The Economic Community of West Africa States ECOWAS, Extractive Technical Experts have hailed the Nigerian Mining Cadastre Office’s eMCO plus system describing it as a model of digital excellence and transparency in the nation's extractive industry.
The ECOWAS Chairman of National Experts, Madu Hassan Fika, spoke during a courtesy visit of a high level delegation of Technical experts from ECOWAS countries to MCO in Abuja.
“My impression was marvellous. I never expected I would see something like this, but seeing what I saw today actually changed my impression completely.
“We have seen so much progress that the mining cadastre office here in Abuja has made so far and we believe that all our member states can actually learn a lot.”
“The ECOWAS delegation is exploring the possibility of establishing a regional geo-extractive observatory and cadastral system.
“Coming here today will give us, especially those that have not gone far in terms of developing a technology as we have here in the mining cadastre office, to be able to emulate something that we have here in Nigeria, in their own member state,” he stressed.
He said with such creative innovation, Nigeria is set to take the lead in the ECOWAS region.
“Nigeria is like a leading nation when it comes to the issue of the cadastral system in the ECOWAS region. Having come to this place today, and with the intention of establishing the geo-extractive observatory and cadastral system, as the regional system, Nigeria will take the lead.
“The regional system would also amplify Nigeria’s progress to the whole world, attracting more investment to the country’s mining sector. The world will see what is happening in Nigeria, and more and more investment is going to come into the Nigerian mining sector,” he maintained.
On his part, the Manager of the Mining Cadastre Office in Sierra Leone, Eugene Norman, stressed the significance of partnership as well as knowledge sharing among ECOWAS member states to enhance development in the subregion.
“As West Africans, we are looking to set up a geo-observability and mining cadastre system. It is quite important that we do peer-to-peer learning, which is essentially why we are here today. Learn from what Nigeria has been doing, what has worked effectively, and what are challenges they face. We can amplify our successes to the world,” he canvassed.
According to the Head of the Delegation, William Badieo, the visit was aimed at assessing Nigeria’s progress as a benchmark for the proposed regional system.
“We’ve moved beyond theory. The first feasibility report confirmed the possibility of a regional geo-extractive observatory. This second phase is about ensuring each member state meets the baseline operational standards before full integration. “Nigeria is far ahead. Today, we witnessed a practical demonstration of a fully functional, transparent, and accessible system. It’s not only operational, it’s exemplary," he said.
Director-General of MCO, Engr Simon Nkom Obadiah, said; "The MCO’s web-based system, launched in November 2022, has been operational for over two years, and Obadiah believes that the ECOWAS member states can learn from Nigeria’s experiences.
We know the benefits, and we know the challenges, and we believe that the ECOWAS Member States coming in is to be able to now see real-time, as you saw when we were displaying how the cadastral works."
According to badiah; “The essence of the member states coming together as a region is to be able to ensure that the national states are able to now emulate and then have a platform that will be easier for investors coming to ECOWAS to be able to invest.
“The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, is aware of the visit and would have liked to interact with the experts.”