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Adeleke Lists Mining Achievements, Faults Oyetola Administration
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Adeleke Lists Mining Achievements, Faults Oyetola Administration
By Waliu Adetokun, Osogbo
Governor Ademola Adeleke has defended his administration’s performance in the mining sector, stating that no mining licence has been sold since he assumed office in 2022, while accusing the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress of neglecting the sector during its time in government.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Mining and Mineral Matters, Lukuman Adekilekun Jimoda, the government said it inherited mining licences burdened with unpaid service charges and abandoned assets.
According to the statement, Governor Adeleke set up a Solid Mineral Committee shortly after assuming office to assess the state of mineral resources and mining operations in Osun State.
“The committee discovered that all inherited licences were encumbered with accumulated service charges which the previous administration failed to pay,” the statement said.
It further alleged that the former administration could not account for revenues generated through a company identified as Hoffman and Danger, claiming that no remittance was made into the state government’s coffers.
“The functionaries of the last administration were aware that August 9, 2023, was the expiry date of the licences, yet no effort was made to pay the service charges or commence the conversion process from exploration leases to mining leases,” the statement added.
The government also accused the immediate past administration of abandoning state assets tied to Segilola Resources Operating Limited, including dividends and taxes worth billions of naira.
“The administration revived and expanded the mining sector by preventing the imminent loss of inherited mining licences due to non-payment of renewal fees by the previous government,” Jimoda stated.
He maintained that Governor Adeleke “did not sell a single cadastral unit” inherited from the last administration and was instead focused on converting all eight joint ventures inherited from the former government into viable mining leases.
Speaking on achievements recorded under the current administration, Jimoda disclosed that the state secured shareholdings in Segilola Resources Operating Limited valued at about N7 billion.
He added that Thor Exploration Limited had been paying dividends worth 64,000 Canadian dollars every three months since January 2025.
“We have also collected taxes worth N1.7 billion, as against less than N50 million realised during the tenure of the last administration,” he said.
According to him, internally generated revenue from alluvial and artisanal mining activities has increased significantly under the Adeleke administration.
“The IGR generated in April 2023 alone exceeded what was realised in the entire year 2022 by the former administration,” he stated.
Jimoda further explained that the state government settled all outstanding service charges in April and May 2023 before commencing the process of converting exploration leases into mining leases.
He said the government carried out environmental audits through the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, secured consent letters from traditional rulers and landowners, and obtained environmental protection and rehabilitation certificates as part of the requirements for the conversion process.
“We applied for the conversion on August 2, 2023. Due to the large size of the exploration leases, we had to divide them into smaller mining lease applications because the Mining Cadastral Office could only accommodate a maximum of 250 cadastral units per submission,” he explained.
The statement noted that applications for 39 mining leases were submitted, out of which 11 had been accepted for processing, while others were still pending.
