1. technology and computing
2. software

International Journal of Engineering and Technology Volume 5 No. 6, June, 2015
Management Information System as a Tool for the Determination of
Legislative Compliance in Nigerian Solid Mineral Industries
Z. O. Opafunso1 and O.D. Eniowo2
1,2Department
of Mining Engineering, School of Engineering and Engineering Technology, Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo State,
Nigeria
ABSTRACT
The study developed a management information system called Q – Analyser software to determine the legislative compliance
in Nigerian solid mineral industries taking Edo state as a case study. Data were collected from the field by administering
questionnaires to top mineral extractive industries within the study area. These data was thereafter input to software {QAnalyser} to determine the level of compliance to the provisions of mineral laws and regulations. The findings reveal that only
two {2} companies out the thirty {30} companies assessed have defaulted the provisions of the law as regards appropriate
royalty payment and only one {1} defaulted as regards prompt royalty payment. However, it was discovered that twenty three
{23} companies out of the thirty {30} companies defaulted the provisions of the law as regards the standard required safety
distance for situating explosives magazines from dwelling places. It was also discovered that twenty three {23} companies out
of the thirty {30} companies assessed engage incompetent personnel in the administration of it explosives magazine contrary
to the provision of the law. This indicates that most mineral extractive industries within the study area have challenges to
comply with the provisions of the laws of explosives magazine administration.
Key words: Legislation, Magazine, Explosive, Royalty, Q-Analyser
1. INTRODUCTION
Nigeria is well endowed with vast human and material
resources that can guarantee sustainable economic growth
and development. The country has large reserves of solid
minerals including bitumen, granite, topaz, lignite, coal, tin,
columbite, iron ore, gypsum, barite, talc etc [1]. Most of these
enormous mineral resources have however remained
untapped for generations. Many have argued over the years
that the major reason for this setback in the solid mineral
industry is due to inadequate or inadequately monitored
legislation guiding Nigeria’s extractive industries. It is
therefore necessary to develop a means through which an
assessment of legislative compliance can easily be ensured.
For this purpose, Management Information System (MIS)
seems to be the easiest way out. This is because MIS provide
a better grip on the activity of information processing and it
takes care of the following points: handling of a voluminous
data, confirmation of the validity of data and transaction,
complex processing of data and multidimensional analysis,
quick search and retrieval, mass storage, communication of
the information system to the user on time, and fulfilling the
changing needs of the information [2]. MIS was therefore
engaged in this research work by developing a software
package which will cater for the needs outlined above and
this software aim to adequately assess the level of compliance
to mining and mineral legislations.
and Mining Act in order to achieve the direct result of
attracting foreign investment into Nigeria’s huge untapped
mineral resources and to effectively achieve this task, it is
desirable that an adequate modern information database is
provided [4].
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY AREA
Edo state is located in the Southern part of Nigeria. The state
has 18 local government areas as shown in Figure 1. The
coordinates are 6030’N 6000’E / 6.5000N 6.0000E with land
mass area 17,802km2. Edo state is an inland state in western
Nigeria. It is bounded in the north and east by Kogi state, in
the south by Delta state and in the west by Ondo state. Edo
state is endowed with both solid minerals and oil. The state is
one of the present nine oil producing states in the country
though the oil deposit in the state is basically located in the
coastal areas while the solid minerals are located basically at
the northern end of the state and down the southern part of the
state. Large deposits of Granite is found in Ohosu (towards its
western boundary with Ondo State) and deposits of
limestone, dolomite and granite are located in Okpilla,
Ikpeshi and Iyuku respectively all in the northern part of the
state. Other solid mineral deposits in the state include calcite,
kaolin among others.
According to Awah [1], the success of legislation can be
gauged on the following areas: Design i.e. developing the law
in a participatory manner, Implementation i.e. mechanism for
application or enforcement of the law, Monitoring i.e. system
of reviewing the performance of law, and Revision i.e.
modification of law where necessary to achieve the objectives
of legislation. As a result, the Federal Government of Nigeria
has provided legal framework by promulgation of Minerals
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International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) – Volume 5 No. 6, June, 2015
Figure 1 Map of Edo State.
3. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
The data used for this study was acquired from field study in
Edo State, Nigeria. Edo state was selected for this study
because it hosts large amount of Mining Industries. Thirty
{30} Quarries were visited within the study area and
questionnaires were distributed and retrieved. Analysis
subjects covered by the content of the questionnaire include
compliance to Mine Health and Safety, Explosives Magazines
Administration, Environmental Protection, Production
Reporting and Royalty Payment Assessment. The data
obtained from the field was input into software named QAnalyser which was designed for the purpose of this study.
Q-Analyser is a software package developed using C#
program on a .Net framework. It is designed to give statistics
on the percentage of data queried in order for the user to infer
meaning on further analysis of result achieved. The function
of the software is to analyse the response to questions in the
questionnaire and thus examine the level of compliance of
Mineral Industries to the existing laws and regulations
governing mineral extraction in Nigeria taking Edo State as
case study. The components of the software include the
following:
3.1
Personal Bio data
The first page on the Software is the Bio-data page which
stores the personal information of the respondent as shown in
Figure 2. The information required in this section includes the
name of the respondent, name of the firm, position of the
respondent in the company, the qualification of the
respondent, age, sex and lastly the year since the respondent
has been working with the present company.
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International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) – Volume 5 No. 6, June, 2015
Figure 2: Personal Bio-Data Page of Q-analyser
3.2.1
3.2
Assessment on Nigeria Mining Development
General Assessment:
The general assessment of the software is divided into three
(3) sections.
The first section is an assessment on Nigeria Mining
Development as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Q-Analyser’s Page on General Assessment on Nigeria Mining Development
The section aims to acquire the respondents’ opinion on the
present laws and regulations available in Mining Sector and
its efficacy in tackling the lingering problems in the Nigerian
Solid Mineral Sector. The purpose of the question asked here,
is to assess the effectiveness of the existing mining and
mineral laws. The respondents were asked to rate the efficacy
of the existing Laws and regulations on Mineral extraction in
Nigeria. The section also examined the effectiveness of the
Mines Inspectorate in the State by asking the respondents to
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International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) – Volume 5 No. 6, June, 2015
rate the Mines Inspectorate on its assistance in influencing
firm’s compliance with mining and mineral laws and
regulations. Finally the section examined factors that hinder
the growth of solid mineral sector by asking the respondents
who was responsible for the present deplorable state of
Mining in Nigeria.
supports a particular point of view, thereby giving
percentages for further analysis on the subject.
3.2.2
Production Capacity
The second section is an assessment on the firm’s production
capacity as shown in Figure 4.
Q-analyser software therefore process the respondents input
data and then computes the number of respondents that
Figure 4: Software Page on Assessment of Firm’s Production Capacity
This section of Q-analyser software assess the Firm’s
Production Capacity in a view to obtain the size of the firm
and the expected influence the company should have both on
its immediate host community, the government and the
country at large. The aim is to examine the size of the
company in terms of its production capacity and number of
employees. Q-analyser software processed the response of the
respondents and examined the firm’s production capacity and
measured it with the level of royalty being paid by the
company to the Federal government to know whether or not
the returns to the Government is being under paid. The
monthly mineral production of the company was input into
the software which was used to calculate the deemed monthly
royalty payment by the company. In the case where the
amount entered by the company as its royalty does not match
the software’s computed deemed royalty, the software
marked the firm as an offender of the law.
3.2.3
1967. Q-analyser software was designed, to store some basic
requirements of these laws and then use it to compare the
response from the respondents to determine whether the
requirements are being followed. It displays the particular
provision that is being flouted along with particular company
that flouts it. The cogent areas assessed in this section as
shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6 includes: PPE (Personal
Protective Equipment Compliance), administration of the
explosives magazine among others.
Legislation Compliance
The third section is an assessment of the firm’s compliance
with existing mining and mineral legislations. There are
basically four (4) legislations governing mineral extraction in
Nigeria. They include; The Mining and Mineral Acts of 2007,
The Mining and Mineral Regulations of 2011,
The
Explosives Acts of 1964 and The Explosives regulations of
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International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) – Volume 5 No. 6, June, 2015
Figure 5: Software Page on Assessment of Firm’s Compliance with Existing Mining and Mineral Legislations
Figure 6: Q-Analyser Page on Continuation of Assessment of Firm’s Compliance with Existing Mining and Mineral Laws
At the end of the firm’s legislation compliance phase of the
software, the input is entered by clicking on ‘submit’ as
shown in Figure 6. Once the data is submitted, it is
automatically saved in the software’s database, and the
information submitted can be retrieved from the software at
any point in time.
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International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) – Volume 5 No. 6, June, 2015
3.3
Result Query Page of Q-Analyser Software
This is the most unique and important section of Q-Analyser
software. The Result Query Page is shown in Figure 7. The
noticeable commands in this section includes ‘view list’,
‘Query analyser’, and ’law offenders statistics. The Software
accepts raw data from field study and processes it, thereby
giving results on the extent to which the available Mineral
Laws and Regulations are being obeyed by solid mineral
industries. Areas analysed by the software include opinion on
general assessment on Nigerian Mining Development, Firm’s
production Capacity and other Legislative Compliance.
Figure 7: Result Query Page on Q-Analyser
4. Q – ANALYSER RESULT PAGE AND
INTERPRETATION
Figure 10 shows the Result Page of Q - Analyser
Software.
Fig 10: Result Page of Q - Analyser Software
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International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) – Volume 5 No. 6, June, 2015
4.1
Efficacy of the Existing Laws
The result of Q – Analyser software page shows that none of
the respondents rated the laws below 40% while 15% gave a
rating of 40-49%; 65% of the respondents gave a rating of 5070%
59%; 20% gave a rating of 60-69% and none gave a rating
above 70% as presented in Figure 11. This indicates that most
stakeholders are of the opinion that the present Mining and
Mineral Laws and Regulation is only ‘’fair’’ in terms of
effectiveness and thus there is great need for a review.
60%
Repondents
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Below 40%
40-49%
50-59%
60-69%
70-79%
Ratings on Efficacy
Figure 11: Ratings on Efficacy of Mining and Mineral Laws
4.2
Competence of the Mines Inspectorate
From Q – Analyser software page result, it was observed that
no respondent gave a rating below 40% while 15% of them
gave a rating of 40-49%; 55% gave a rating of 50%; 30%
gave a rating of 60-69% and no respondent gave a rating
above 70% as shown in Figure 12. This indicates that most of
stakeholders in the solid mineral sector believe that the Mines
Inspectorate was fairly performed in in effecting company’s
compliance with mining and mineral laws. Therefore there is
a need for improvement on the issues regarding Legislative
compliance in the Solid Mineral Sector.
70%
60%
Respondents
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Below 40%
40-49%
50-59%
60-69%
70-79%
Fig 12: Ratings on Effectiveness of Mines Inspectorate
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International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) – Volume 5 No. 6, June, 2015
4.3
Factors Hindering the Growth of Nigeria Solid
Mineral Sector
From Q – Analyser software page result, it was observed that
55% of the respondents are of the view that poor legislation is
among the factors militating against the growth of the mineral
sector, 65% believes Government neglect is a contributing
factor, 65% believes inadequate investment is also a factor,
30% are of the opinion that insufficient technical know-how,
70%
25% blames it on inadequate infrastructure while 45%
believes there are other factors not aforementioned as shown
in Figure 13. It was noticed from the above that that the
cumulative percentage of response in this section is more than
100%. This is because respondents have the opportunity to
select more than one option since there may be more than one
factor responsible.
60%
Respondents (%)
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Poor
Legislation
Government
Neglect
Inadequate
Investment
Insufficient
Technical
Know-how
Inadequate Other Factors
Infrastructure
Figure 13: Factors Hindering Growth of Nigerian Solid Mineral Sector
4.4
Deplorable State of Mining in Nigeria
The result of Q – Analyser software page result shows that
95% of the respondents believe that federal government was
responsible for deplorable state of mining in Nigeria, 10%
blamed state government for the problem while 5% blamed
mining investors and 25% puts the blamed on expatriates in
the mineral sector as represented in Figure 14..
100%
90%
Respondent (%)
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Federal Government
State Government
Mining investors
Expatriates in the
sector
Figure 14: Opinion on who is responsible for the deplorable state of mining
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International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) – Volume 5 No. 6, June, 2015
4.5
Company’s Staff Strength
software stored the total number of employee in the company
in order to ascertain the size of the firm. The figure shows
that 16 companies have over 50 employees while 6
companies have over 6 employees.
Figure 15 shows the result of the assessment on the staff
strength of the major companies. In addition to determination
of opinion of stakeholders on lingering issues as regards the
development of the solid mineral sector, the Q – Analyser
180
160
140
Staff Strength
120
100
80
60
40
RCC
Avad Cement
Harvey Quarry
Dantata and Sawoe
Dagbe Chemicals
Charbat
Freedom Bekuma
Rock King
ccc. Site 2
Sayoun. Site 2
goopex
Freedom Egbigere
Name of the Company
julis dinger
wokson
ccc. Site 1
Mothercat
granite
anthony
topline
interbau
somark
Baba rock
Petra
Jigom
Freedom Ikp
Geogio
Freedom Okp
Skaff
Setraco
0
Sayoun. Site 1
20
Fig 15: Staff strength of Mining Industries within the Study Area
4.6 Law Offenders on Required Safety Distance of
Magazine to Nearest Dwelling Place
Figure 15 shows the offenders of Safety Distance between
Magazine and the Nearest Human Dwelling. It was observed
that only seven {7} companies were not the offenders of the
law on safety distance to human dwelling out of the total
Non-Law Offenders
thirty {30} assessed companies. This indicates that most
quarries’ magazines are located close to residential or
business places such as farms or any place where people have
access to and this pose great threat to human lives within
these vicinities.
Law Offenders
Numbers of Offenders
25
20
15
10
5
0
Law offenders
Non-law offenders
Figure 15: Offenders of Safety Distance between Magazine and the Nearest Human Dwelling
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International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) – Volume 5 No. 6, June, 2015
4.7 Law Offenders on Prompt and Appropriate Royalty
Payment
Figure 16 indicates that only two {2} companies were
offenders of the provisions of the law as regards royalty
payments out of the total thirty {30} assessed companies.
This is a positive sign as it indicates that the government is
not being underpaid its monthly royalty by most of the
mineral industries within the study area. It also indicates that
the mines inspectorate is performing in the issue of
monitoring compliance to royalty payment by mineral
industries. However, more work still needs to be done to
further improve compliance to appropriate royalty payments
and thus pursue one hundred percent (100%) compliance to
this provision of Mining Acts.
Non-Law Offenders
Law Offenders
30
Number of Offenders
25
20
15
10
5
0
Law offenders
Non-law offenders
Figure 16: Offenders of Royalty Payment
4.8
Overall Law Offenders
Figure 17 indicates that 90% of Mineral industries within the
study area were offenders of Mining and Mineral law while
only 10 % are non-law offenders as assessed by the Software.
As a result of this result, more effort needs to be put in place
by the Mines Inspectorate in association with other
Government agencies to ensure adequate compliance to the
existing Mineral and Mining legislations.
100
90
Number of Offenders
80
70
60
50
Offenders of Law
40
Non-Offenders of
Law
30
20
10
0
Non-Offenders of Law
Offenders of Law
Figure 17: Overall Law Offenders and Non-Offenders of Law
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International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) – Volume 5 No. 6, June, 2015
iv.
5. CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATION
This study was carried out to determine the level of
compliance to the existing mining and mineral laws using Q –
Analyser software. The result of the analysis of the
questionnaire by the software is plotted into graphs and charts
for easy understanding. The result shows that the existing
laws are only “fair” in terms of effectiveness; there is
therefore a great need for review and update. It was also
discovered that the performance of the mines inspectorate as
regards ensuring compliance of mineral industries to the
existing mineral legislations is “average”. This indicates that
many of the defaults in the effectiveness of mineral and
mining legislations can be traced to the actions or inactions of
the mines inspectorate-the body charged by law to oversee
and ensure compliance to mineral and mining legislations.
Therefore, in order to ensure adequate compliance to the
existing mining and mineral laws in Nigeria the following
recommendation are hereby made:
i.
ii.
iii.
The mines inspectorate should adopt the software
(Q-analyser) for easy analysis and monitoring of
compliance to mining and mineral and laws and
regulations;
The Explosives Acts and Regulations should be
reviewed since the Acts and Regulations last review
was in 1964 and 1967 respectively;
More provisions should be made to encourage more
women to go into the mining business since this will
increase the amount of stakeholders in the business
and thus more opportunities will abound;
v.
The mines inspectorate should step up the frequency
of it periodic visit to mining industries so as to
monitor compliance to mining laws and regulations,
and
Foreign Mineral Industries in Nigeria should be
compelled to engage indigenes more and not just
rely on expatriates from their home country. This
will facilitate job creation and also enhance
technological transfer.
REFERENCES
[1]
Akerele, F.O. (2013): Overview of the Nigerian
Mining
Sector:
http://www.foakinrele.com.../Overview-of-NigerianMINING-Sector-Final-(1).aspx (accessed February
10, 2014)
[2]
Awah, A. (2013). The Crucial Role of Legislation in
the Promotion of Democratic Governance between
the Legislature and other Arms of the Government:
African Training and Research Centre in
Administration for Development, Morocco. pp 2 - 3
[3]
Mbam, B.C.E., Ndunagu, J. (2012): Course Guide
on Management Information System: National Open
University Nigeria (NOUN), Victoria Island, Lagos,
Nigeria. p5
[4]
Opafunso, Z. O. and Ajaka E. O. (2004): Application
of Geographical Information System (GIS) to Solid
Mineral Resources Information Management:
Pakistan Journal for Scientific and Industrial
Resources Vol. 47(6), Pakistan. p240
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