By Bankole Shakirudeen Adesina
The Nigerian mining industry was thrown into shock with the death of an industry giant and pioneer Director General of the Mining Cadastre Office (MCO), Engr Muhammed K. Amate on Friday, June 23rd in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Amate, a philanthropist and community leader, was until his death Chairman of the Board of Steron Mining Company Limited, was a major player in the public and private sectors of the Nigerian mining industry.
Mohammed Amate was appointed by the President Goodluck Jonathan as Director General/CEO of the Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office in January 2011, a position he held for eight years, until January 2019. He handed over the mantle to the incumbent DG, Engr. Obadiah Simon Nkom and continued to offer support and insights as the new leadership continued to push forward with the reforms he initiated and enact new reform projects of their own.
Before he took over at the newly created MCO, the only thing assured of investors seeking to navigate the minerals titles licensing regime are endless waiting time and lost opportunities. Although the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act of 2007 established the MCO, the system was marred by bureaucratic delays.
The system was archaic and barely functional. It could take up to two years before a licence could be issued. This created opportunities for sharp practices and made the sector uninviting for serious investors – or people seeking to do the right thing.
A mining engineer by training, Amate was recruited into the job of MCO DG from his position as Director of Mines in the then Federal Ministry of Steel and Mines. As director, he had documented systemic weaknesses – from opaque title conferral to informal practices undermining miner confidence. It was no surprise therefore that his mandate as the DG of the MCO was to redefine the agency’s role and mandate and bring sanity to the industry.
Between 2005 and 2013, a tiny fraction of mining applications reached maturity and were successful, said an industry insider. The backlog of applications was in thousands and several would not even be traced as they got lost in the bureaucratic morass.
With the support of a World Bank facility and technical expertise of German firm GAF AG, he launched in 2011 a series of reforms to streamline the mining licensing process, including the computerization of the MCO cadastre system using SIGTIM. This brought transparency and ease of use for both applicants and MCO officials by ensuring real-time tracking of applications. It, for course also reduces incidences of conflicts in award of mining blocks,
Under this World Bank partnership, the MCO in 2018 moved away from geo-polygon tools to a fully integrated e-cadastre, complete with six zonal offices nationwide and breaking of Abuja’s monopoly on access. This reduced licensing time from months to days and led to higher revenue to government, especially with the reforms in the license renewal and search fees process.
Flow of tributes
In his tribute, Engr Nkom described his predecessor as a man imbued with quiet determination.
“He transformed licensing in Nigeria. We now have timelines, not endless bureaucratic wait times,” Nkom said.
The Managing Director of Steron Mining, Engr. Abu-Sadiq Omar also has nothing but warm words for the departed industry leader, Muhammed K. Amate.
He wrote: “Engr. Amate was a humble legend who never repel youngsters. He sat with youngsters and played with them, derived joy in seeing them happy by being jovial with them, even in a short time like in an elevator. Even those that were not as old as his youngest child.
“His leadership was top notch, his key leadership strength was inclusiveness . As STERON chairman, mainly connected to the directors, his leadership experience from being the former DG of the Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office was ever useful. Is it getting things done from his office, or even soft landing in organisations, the moment they discover Engr. Amate is the Chairman.
“Just an experience of mine will explain this better: As a junior officer in STERON, I was asked to pursue an assignment in one government organization. I could not even decipher how to start. On asking questions, I was directed to the department that could initiate the assignment. I met an anonymous person there to seek the procedures and she explained things to me in my first visit. During my subsequent visit that I met her to tell her the progress and appreciate her guidance, she told me ‘you are from STERON? And your head is Engr. Amate. Please don’t thank me again, he is my Baba, and you don’t even need to come again, I will complete it and notify you. The next thing I saw was the completed scanned copy of the documents. Baba, you were so amazing, not only to us, but to humanity in general.”
Family man and technocrat
Born on 20th June 1953, in Kirkwall, Borno state, the late Amate was married to Hajjia Aisha m Amate and they were blessed with four children, Ahmed m Amate, Fatimah m Amate, Sadiya m Amate and Abdulmajid m Amate.
Amate had his early education at Government Craft School, Maiduguri (1969); Government Technical School, Kano – Intermediate City and Guilds (C&G) of London (1972). He obtained a Diploma in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from the Kaduna Polytechnic, in 1976. He graduated with a BSc. in Mining Engineering and Associateship of Camborne School of Mines (ACSM) from the Camborne School of Mines, Cornwall England in 1980, and
In addition to his academic knowledge and qualifications, Mohammed Amate also undertook several on the job courses and trainings which includes Study Tour of Mining Reforms of Australia, Ghana, South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Brazil; and Study Tour of the Mining Cadastre Systems of Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Brazil.
He was General Manager, Inter-Governmental Affairs, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (Jan 2010 to December 2010); Director, Planning, Research & Statistics, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Nigeria and Ad-Hoc Governor of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and National Representative to the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA) (June, 2007 to December 2009), Director, Federal Training Centre, Administration – Office of the Civil Service of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2006-2007); Served in top Management and the Directorate Caders of the Ministry in charge of Mining in Nigeria including Director of Mines, Federal Republic of Nigeria (1991-2006); National Representative to the Association of Tin Producing Countries (ATPC) – 1991 to 1999; Top Management level at the Ministry of Works and Housing Borno State of Nigeria (1989 to 1990) and a lecturer of Mining Engineering at Kaduna Polytechnic (1980 to 1981).
Mohammed K. Amatehas chaired and served in several ad hoc committees including: Committee on the Accelerated Development of Nigeria’s Solid Minerals Potential; National Data Repository Advisory Committee of Ministry of Petroleum Resources; Solid Minerals sector Steering Committee; Consultative Committee for Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources Project; Technical Committee on Coal Development; Committee for the Review of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act.
A member of the Council of the Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientists (COMEG), Amate was also a Fellow of the Nigerian Mining & Geosciences Society (NMGS), Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Mining Engineers (NSME); Fellow of the School of Mines and Earth Sciences, Federal University of Technology, Akure; Member of the British Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and several other similar bodies.
