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World Environment Day: Environmental Activist Advocates Huge Tax For Companies Engaged In Pollution
An environmental activist and Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, has advocated huge taxation for companies involved in pollution of the environment
Bassey who made this submission in Benin on Monday at the organisation’s 2023 School of Ecology on Arts and Culture, described Nigeria as a “difficult environment”, hence everyone must embark on advocacy for safe environment.
HOMEF’s June 2023 School of Ecology on Arts and Culture was held to commemorate this year’s World Environment Day and also to broadening communities understanding of causes of Climate Change.
He added: “There is no reason why the big companies polluting our environment should go without paying a big tax for their pollution.
READ ALSO: Environmental Activist, Nnimmo Bassey, Harps On Benefits Of Renewable Energy
“We have a duty, which is inescapable, to advocate for a safe and clean environment where people can live in dignity to develop and grow their potentials.
“We also have a duty to inform policies and to advocate for policy changes.”
Emphasizing the fact that a safe environment is right of the people according to Africa Chartered for People and Human Rights, the environmental activist lamented that in spite of the damage caused to the environment, companies into pollution are having their ways because of their influence in the society.
READ ALSO: HOMEF Charges Speedy Clean Up Of Ogoniland, N’Delta
He said: “This is the only way you can have a healthy people; and without a healthy people, you can’t have a healthy workforce.
“If we want to have Nigeria working again, we need to have healthy people in a clean environment.
” What this companies are doing is, If the world eventually moves away from using petrol, diesel and the rest, this industry wants to make sure the world stays with plastic to keep their production alive, all for profits. They don’t really care about the safety of the environment; the safety of our biodiversity or the lives of citizens. As long as they can make money and keep their business going, they are okay,” he added.
He, therefore, called on the new government in Nigeria to “begin to think of the environment in differ way with a view to changing the narrative.”
READ ALSO: World Earth Day: HOMEF Wants The Earth More Protected
On his part, a cartoonist with a newspaper, Mike Asukwo said “the way forward is that the advocacy should be more vocal; should be more stronger and more persistence. We need to keep speaking to the issues.”
He continued: “We should do everything possible to draw government attention to the dangers of climate change. We should be more conscious of how we treat our environment; how we treat waste.”
This month edition of School of Ecology also featured poetry, drama, etc, in telling stories of dangers in climate change.
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JUST IN: Ooni Visits Olubadan-designate Ladoja In Ibadan
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, on Sunday, paid a visit to the Olubadan designate, Rashidi Ladoja, at his Bodija private residence in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The PUNCH reports that Oba Ladoja will be installed as the 44th Olubadan on Friday, September 26, 2025, following the demise of the 43rd Olubadan, Oba Owolabi Olakulehin, who joined his ancestors on Monday, July 7, 2025, at the age of 90 years.
READ ALSO:Ladoja Coronation Date As 44th Olubadan Revealed
The two paramount rulers are currently exchanging pleasantries.
Details later…
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JUST IN: FG Revokes 1,263 Mineral Licenses Over Unpaid Fees
The Federal Government through the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development has announced a fresh revocation of not less than 1,263 mineral licenses.
These licenses, which will now be deleted from the Electronic Mining Cadastral System portal of the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office, include 584 exploration licenses, 65 mining leases, 144 quarry licenses, and 470 small-scale mining leases.
The minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, gave the revocation announcement in a statement issued by his special assistant on Media, Segun Tomori, on Sunday in Abuja.
The minister explained that the directive was issued due to the companies’ failure to comply with the requirement of paying their annual service fees.
The latest revocation brings the total mineral titles revoked under the current administration to 3, 794 including,619 mineral titles revoked for defaulting in paying annual service fees and 912 for dormancy last year.
READ ALSO:FG Introduces Chinese Language Into School Curriculum
By opening up the areas formerly covered by these licenses, the revocation is expected to spur fresh applications by investors looking for fresh opportunities.
The statement read, “Not less than 1,263 mineral licenses will be deleted from the portal of the Electronic Mining Cadastral system of the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office, MCO, following their revocation by the Federal Government.
“These include 584 exploration licenses, 65 mining leases, 144 quarry licenses, and 470 small-scale mining leases.”
Approving the revocation following the recommendation of the MCO, the Minister said applying the law to keep speculators and unserious investors away from the mining sector would make way for diligent investors and grow the sector.
“The era of obtaining licences and keeping them in drawers for the highest bidder, while financially capable and industrious businessmen are complaining of access to good sites, is over.
READ ALSO:FG Gives Mining Firms Deadline For Community Agreements
“The annual service fee is the minimum evidence that you are interested in mining. You don’t have to wait for us to revoke the license because the law allows you to return the license if you change your mind,” the minister said.
He warned that the revocation does not mean the Federal Government has pardoned the annual service debt owed by licensees, adding that the list will be forwarded to the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission to ensure that debtors pay or face the wrath of the law.
“This is to encourage due diligence and emphasise the consequences of inundating the license application processes with speculative activities.”
In the recommendation to the minister, the Director-General of the MCO, Simon Nkom, disclosed that there were 1,957 initial defaulters when the MCO published the intention to revoke licences in the Federal Government Gazette on June 19, 2025.
He informed the minister that the gazette was distributed to MCO offices nationwide to sensitise licencees and encourage them to comply within 30 days in compliance with the Minerals and Mining Act 2007 and relevant regulations.
READ ALSO:FG Gazettes New Tax Reform Laws
He observed that the delay in the final recommendation was due to complaints of several licensees who claimed to have paid to the Federal Government through Remita and had to be reconciled.
Earlier this month, the DG MCO had hinted that more mining licences would be revoked as part of ongoing efforts to sanitise the solid minerals sector and protect investors from fraudsters.
According to Nkom, the clean-up exercise, which covers expired, speculative, and inactive titles, is necessary to make room for genuine investors and ensure compliance with the law.
This is part of ongoing efforts at sanitising the sector since the inception of the Tinubu administration, and the salutary effects of the reforms are massive and manifest despite the attempts to push back by defaulters and their agents.
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