In a renewed push for regulatory compliance within Nigeria’s mining sector, the Mining Cadastre Office (MCO) and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) have formed a strategic partnership to ensure only duly registered and transparent companies continue operating.
The collaboration comes on the heels of recent arrests of illegal miners found trespassing on legally allocated sites. It aims to enhance corporate governance by enforcing statutory obligations and improving oversight across the sector.
According to a statement released on Sunday by MCO’s Head of Press, Okeke Grace Amara, the move was formalised during a courtesy visit by CAC Registrar-General, Hussaini Magaji, to MCO Director General, Obadiah Nkom, at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.
Welcoming the CAC team, Nkom reaffirmed MCO’s commitment to the partnership, pledging to provide a comprehensive list of companies that have complied with their annual returns.
“We are ready to provide comprehensive data on registered companies that are in full compliance with annual return requirements,” he said.
Nkom also praised the CAC’s efforts to promote corporate accountability across all sectors and highlighted the importance of inter-agency cooperation, noting that MCO already works closely with the Nigeria Geological Survey Agency, the Solid Minerals Development Fund, and others to promote transparency and efficiency.
He further outlined the success of the eMC+ platform, a digital licensing and monitoring system launched in November 2022, which he said has revolutionised service delivery and boosted revenue collection. According to Nkom, MCO generated ₦10.9 billion between January and April 2025 alone.
The DG credited these achievements to reforms championed by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, and President Bola Tinubu, saying their leadership had reenergised the sector and made it more globally competitive.
In his remarks, CAC Registrar-General Magaji stressed the legal basis for the collaboration, pointing out that the CAC and MCO were both established by statute—the CAC under Section 8 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, and the MCO under Section 5 of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act.
“We are here to strengthen collaboration and enforce compliance in line with the provisions of the law,” Magaji said. “We want to ensure that only companies with active and legal standing benefit from the licences and privileges granted by the government.”
He underscored that timely filing of annual returns and full registration with the CAC would now be prerequisites for acquiring and retaining mining licences.
Both agencies agreed to work on systems for data sharing, regulatory enforcement, and real-time information exchange to ensure mining companies adhere strictly to all legal and procedural requirements.
