The federal government has released amended mining standards for the production of Community Development Agreements (CDAs) in the solid minerals sector.
The launch was led by Dr Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Mineral Development, on Friday in Abuja at an event organized by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy, and Development (Centre LSD), the Ministry of Solid Mineral Development, and the Ford Foundation.
The Minister stated that the federal government was dedicated to ensuring that mining operations and initiatives for local and national economic development benefited host communities to the greatest extent possible.
According to him, the CDA is a statutory provision that ensures the transfer of socioeconomic benefits to mining host communities, as well as a legal document containing duties by the Mineral Title Holder (MTH) to her host community and vice versa.
According to the Minister,
“The mining of mineral resources had significant impacts on host communities, thus the imperative of concerned communities to be carried along in the activities of the sector.”