The Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007 stipulates that the Holder
of a Mining Lease, Small Scale Mining Lease or Quarry Lease, shall,
prior to the commencement of any development, activity within the
lease area, conclude with the host community, an agreement referred to
as a Community Development Agreement (CDA) or other such
agreement that will ensure the transfer of social and economic benefits
to the Community.

The Community Development Agreement is to be submitted to the
Honourable Minister, Ministry of Solid Minerals Development for
evaluation by the Mines Environmental Compliance Department.
From experience, however, since the enactment of the Act in 2007,
most of the CDA documents submitted to the Ministry do not meet the
criteria set by the extant law and were subsequently denied approval.
This Guideline has therefore been developed in order to raise the
standards of CDA development and writing in conformity with the
global best practices.