By Editorial Board The controversy surrounding the alleged sale of N5 billion worth of gold to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by ...
By Editorial Board
The controversy surrounding the alleged sale of N5 billion
worth of gold to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by the Zamfara State
government is an issue of urgent national importance. While the alleged
Zamfara-CBN deal is a test of the commitment of state actors to the provisions
of the constitution, it is on another hand a test case for the justification
for resource control by federating units.
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Senator Ovie
Omo-Agege, whose reaction to the Zamfara State alleged sale of a gold bar to
the Central Bank of Nigeria to the tune of N5 billion rekindled the discussion,
had viewed the deal as a breach of the Constitution. His reaction identified
the tension between the practice of fiscal autonomy operative in federalism,
which Zamfara seemed to have demonstrated and the provision of the constitution
regarding resource management of the state.
According to item 39 of the Exclusive Legislative List of
the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended): “Mines
and minerals including oil fields, oil mining, geological surveys and natural
gas are exclusively under Federal Government’s control.”
In the same vein, the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007,
which was passed into law on March 16, 2007, to repeal the Minerals and Mining
Act, No. 34 of 1999 for the purposes of regulating the exploration and
exploitation of solid materials in Nigeria, vests the control of all properties
and minerals in Nigeria in the state and prohibits unauthorised exploration or
exploitation of minerals. The Act further states that all lands in which
minerals have been found in commercial quantities shall, from the commencement
of the Act, be acquired by the Federal Government in accordance with the Land
Use Act.
Despite these legal provisions, the Zamfara’s gold mine is
reflective of the familiar activities of artisanal miners who make huge
prospect from mineral extraction and mining without reprimand from state
authorities. This is what popular thinking has termed resource control. In the
light of widespread calls for fiscal autonomy and resource control, it is
fitting to salute the initiative of the Zamfara government and the singular
enterprise to practise resource control.
This is an audacious gesture that ordinarily demands
replication in other parts of the country, especially the Niger Delta. In a
federal system, which paradoxically Nigeria pretentiously claims to be
practising, the decision by the Zamfara State government to sell its naturally
endowed resource to the Federal Government would be commended as a genuine
practice of fiscal autonomy consistent with federalism.
Thus, if stakeholders and indeed the people do not support
Zamfara State in this cause, then they have no right anymore to clamour for
federalism. In this regard, Senator Omo-Agege, who comes from the oil-rich
Niger Delta, should by this reckoning have congratulated Matawalle on
demonstrably pointing out the contradiction in the provisions of the
constitution and our national posturing as a democratic state operating a
federal system of governance.
There is, however, a pertinent question, in this regard: why
has the Federal Government allowed Zamfara to exploit its minerals while others
have to wait for constitutional amendment? The big question here is why has
refining of crude oil, especially the artisanal equivalent in the oil industry
not enjoyed the same treatment? This seeming preferential approach is why the
audacity of Governor Bello Matawalle should prompt Nigerians to ask further
questions about the lopsided resource control mechanism being bandied by the
drama.
How did Zamfara obtain the power to exploit what exclusively
belongs to the Federal Government? Will the same government allow Ondo to sell
its bitumen? Will they allow Osun to sell its own gold? Or even hypothetically,
should uranium be found in Ebonyi State, will that state be allowed to sell it?
It would be recalled that Dangote obtained a mining licence for limestone
deposits in Ibese, Ilaro. Another private company obtained mining licence for
gold in Ilesa and operations were flagged off on March 19, 2020. In the same
way, can a state government obtain a mining licence for mineral deposits in its
territory?
Responding to queries emanating from this worry, the
Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, in an interview
reaffirmed the constitutional provisions on national resource distribution when
he condemned as unfair any attempt to bring in federalism on mining revenue. He
said inter alia: “When we find minerals in our own place, it has to go to the
joint purse where we will share it.”
As it is, Zamfara State has demonstrated with its first
presentation of the refined gold bar that it does not believe in any sharing
from the proceeds of its gold. Zamfara seems to tell Nigerians and stakeholders
that it is increasingly clear that the wisdom behind resource restrictions in
the Exclusive legislative list is a sham, and that such an arrangement violates
the concept and spirit of federalism. And from every indication this may well
be the beginning of more volatile clamour for resource control.
Although Nigerians would not want to be misled by Governor
Matawalle’s drama, which seems to suggest that the Federal Government was
buying refined mineral product from Zamfara State, it makes good sense to amend
the aforementioned provisions of the constitution to reflect civilised values
of justice and fairness – in a true federation.
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