The Integrated Automation and Interactive GIS Web Portal, launched in 2017 by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development with an investment of N700 million, is currently inaccessible, FIJ can report.

The portal was developed to streamline online processes such as mining licence applications, mineral titles processing and the payment of royalties.

At its launch in November 2017, Kayode Fayemi stated:

“We have spent about N700 million to develop this Integrated Automation and Interactive GIS Web Portal to improve Ease-of-Doing-Business in the mining sector.”

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The portal was intended to provide reliable and timely information for decision-making in the mining industry.

NON COMPLIANCE WITH BASIC GUIDELINES

FIJ observed the website’s blackout for three days while trying to access mining licence information on Osun State.

This website’s situation is in conflict with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) guidelines for goverment web pages. These guidelines mandate that government websites remain available around the clock every day of the week.

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Section 7.3.1 of the guideline, according to the document obtained by FIJ, reads:

“Government websites MUST be accessible to the public in a fast and
secure manner on a 24-hour basis and on all days of the week. It is
important that the Web Hosting Service Provider (HSP) for a
Government Institution be chosen with extreme caution and care”

FIJ understands that the ministry responsible for the portal has been rebranded from Mines and Steel Development to Solid Minerals Development under the Tinubu-led administration.

In one sense, this could mean that a migration or system upgrade is underway. But in such cases, NITDA guidelines require that any planned changes be managed carefully to ensure service continuity. As stated in the guidelines,

The NITDA guidelines stipulate that if a service is being migrated or removed, the responsible agency must notify the public in advance and implement appropriate contingency measures to avoid disruption. It also states that old portals and websites no longer in use should be removed or archived for the public to have access to information if need be.

TRANSPARENCY CHALLENGES IN NIGERIAN MDAS

At press time, the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development had not published a statement or issued a communique on the portal.

The portal’s inaccessibility and the lack of communication only adds to ongoing concerns about the management of government digital services, where millions of naira have been invested with the expectation of reliable, uninterrupted service.

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In July 2024, FIJ reported how many state-owned websites — 26 out of the 36 states — did not meet the required transparency and operational standards laid down by NITDA.

FIJ has also reported standalone cases of shortfalls, glitches and transparency gaps in government digital services, like the police’s cybercrime page, the presidency’s page and Nigeria’s information management database.

The Presidency itself, through the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), published a half-year transparency report calling out these transparency shortfalls among the MDA(s)