Lagos — Bola Babarinde, a public policy analyst and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, has urged the Federal Government to incorporate Nigeria’s solid minerals sector into its ongoing tax reforms, warning that its exclusion would render the reforms incomplete and unjust.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Friday, Babarinde, a former Chairman of the APC’s South Africa Chapter, argued that leaving mining revenues outside the tax framework undermines fairness, national cohesion, and long-term development.
He described the establishment of the Taiwo Oyedele-led Presidential Committee on Tax Reform as timely, given Nigeria’s revenue shortfalls and growing inequality. However, he highlighted a critical oversight: the solid minerals sector remains largely absent from the reform agenda.
“The objective of the committee is sound—to expand the tax net, reduce pressure on low-income earners, and ensure big earners pay their fair share. But a major contradiction has emerged: the solid minerals sector has been largely ignored,” Babarinde stated.
He noted that despite Nigeria’s vast mineral wealth, the sector operates with little regulation and transparency, dominated by powerful local and foreign interests who often evade taxes and royalties.
“This is not only an economic failure but a governance failure,” he emphasized.
Babarinde linked illegal mining to worsening insecurity in several regions, stressing that it fuels criminal networks, weakens state authority, and starves the government of revenue needed for development and security.
He also pointed to a dangerous regional imbalance: while oil from the South-South and cash crops from the South-West are heavily taxed for national benefit, solid minerals—predominantly found in Northern Nigeria—are extracted with minimal fiscal contribution to the federation.
“Many mineral-rich communities remain among the poorest in the country. This imbalance fuels poverty, migration, and social strain,” he warned.
Citing South Africa as a model, Babarinde argued that a properly regulated and taxed mining sector could rival or surpass oil revenues. “If South Africa can thrive on mining revenues, Nigeria can achieve even greater results with the right policies and enforcement.”
He called on the government to ensure that by 2026, Nigeria operates as “one nation under one law,” where all natural resources—oil, agriculture, and minerals—are governed with equal transparency and accountability.
“Tax reform without mining reform is reform half done. Peace without economic justice is temporary,” Babarinde concluded.