Nigeria is offering would-be investors a generous three-year tax holiday and other incentives in a bid to turn around its moribund mining industry. The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, made the announcement and called on foreign investors to invest in the country’s mining sector to benefit “100% ownership” of their investments.
“Some foreign mining investors are not aware that Nigeria is a mining nation; we want them to come and invest in Nigerian mining as our incentives are good compared to other mining nations. Our royalty is the lowest compare to other mining nations, we charge 3.5%, while other mining nations charge 17 to 20 per cent depending on the mineral mined,” said Adegbite.
Wooing investors
He added that the federal government allows local and foreign mining investors to have 100 per cent ownership of minerals mined, as one of its incentives to woo investors to the industry.
“Nigeria is still fresh in mining, we need to encourage mining investors to invest in Nigeria to enjoy maximum benefit of the country’s green field resources,” said Adegbite.
Other incentives include: holders of a mineral title are guaranteed free transfer of funds through the Central Bank of Nigeria and a three-year tax holiday. He noted that this year’s mining week would be a virtual event, adding that it would bring together mining investors, governors, some ministers and the event would be declared open by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo.
Uchechukwu Ogah, the Minister of State, said that this year’s mining week would be purely an investment programme that would yield a lot of benefits for the nation. The event would be digital due to COVID-19 pandemic with the attendant palpable fear of the emergence of new variants.
