The CEO of the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF), Justina Nelson, addressed editors and senior journalists in Accra yesterday.
She set the tone with a defining statistic: MIIF recorded GH¢5.3 billion in mineral royalties in 2025, the highest since its establishment under Act 978 in 2018.
“I feel humbled to report that, as a team, we recorded GH¢5.3 billion in mineral royalties, so far the highest in the fund,”
Justina Nelson spoke at the fund’s inaugural media training program.
The sum surpasses the GH¢4.91 billion reported in 2024, indicating significant increase.
She clarified that the story of MIIF is now about change rather than just collections, going beyond the headline figure.
The MIIF CEO described a strategic change based on long-term value development from Ghana’s mineral riches, institutional strengthening, and legal reform.
The Minerals Income Investment Fund (Amendment) Act, 2024 (Act 1137), which she regarded as a significant turning point in the fund’s development, is essential to this change.
She also hinted that some parts of the law could need to be improved, making the media important players in promoting educated public debate and policy focus.
Justina Nelson listed three pillars that will drive the fund’s future course. The first is increasing the amount of royalties collected.
MIIF continues to play a crucial role in making sure mining companies fulfil their payment responsibilities notwithstanding shifts in their revenue share. Stronger monitoring, verification, and enforcement mechanisms continue to be essential to this objective.
Sustained expansion in investments is the second pillar. In order to remain relevant and provide long-term value, the fund must rely more on returns from its current asset base due to the modified law’s decreased inflows.
Strengthening institutions is the third. While acknowledging the existence of holes in internal controls and monitoring, the MIIF CEO stressed that reforms are being implemented to create a more robust and accountable organization.
She reaffirmed MIIF’s goal to become a globally competitive sovereign wealth fund, with assets under management now valued at GH¢7.3 billion.
Justina Nelson was open about how crucial it is to restructure internal processes in order to support the fund’s goals. She emphasised that maintaining success and winning over investors require solid governance, efficient oversight, and reliable operational frameworks.
As a result, the fund is strengthening its internal architecture, which includes more robust policy frameworks to direct decision-making as well as enhanced monitoring and evaluation tools.
She argued that this institutional reset is just as crucial to MIIF’s long-term success as financial achievement.
The ramifications of recent legislative changes, specifically the reorganisation of mining revenue flows, were also discussed by Justina Nelson.
The revised framework modifies how resources are allocated throughout the government, even though MIIF still plays a key role in managing mineral wealth.
She said that in order to adjust to this new structure, efficiency, strategic investment, and value creation will need to be given more attention. She also reiterated the fund’s dedication to accountability and openness.
“We are committed to ensuring that Ghana’s mineral wealth delivers enduring value for present and future generations,” she declared.
Chief Financial Officer David Awuah Mensah gave more information about the record performance, attributing the gain to a combination of higher gold prices, higher production, and more stringent royalty payment enforcement.
“If you are mining our resources, then you have the obligation to pay the requisite royalties,” he stated.
He emphasised manganese as a major contributor, pointing out that improved monitoring in producing regions led to a notable increase in royalties from the mineral.
This is a component of MIIF’s zonal operational model, which strengthens oversight by dividing the nation into northern, central, southern, and coastal areas.
However, both major operators and mid-tier mining companies continue to support gold as the primary source of mineral revenue.
Although less regularly, dividend income from state stock assets also made a contribution.
According to Awuah Mensah, the biggest shift impacting MIIF was not only the rise in royalties but also the reorganisation of the distribution of those profits.
After statutory deductions, MIIF kept about 77.6% of mineral income under the former system, which provided a sizable amount of capital for investment.
But as a result of Act 1137, the fund currently only gets two percent of all mining revenue.
Prior to being disbursed, all royalties are deposited into a central Minerals Income Holding Account.
While the majority is moved to the Consolidated Fund to assist government spending, especially infrastructure development, a portion still goes to the Minerals Development Fund.
He pointed out that this move drastically alters the ratio of immediate fiscal use of mineral earnings to long-term investment.
Dr. Tuinese Edward Amuzu, Head of Legal at MIIF, stated that the new law modifies Act 978 rather than replacing it.”Act 978 as amended is still the law,” he declared.
Although he identified several areas where interpretation is still unclear, he assessed the lowering of MIIF’s share to two percent as plain and unequivocal.
Specifically, the law is silent on the fund’s ability to obtain additional resources for investing purposes from the central holding account.
“It is not clear in writing because the law does not say anything directly about that,” he said.
Dr. Amuzu also mentioned other modifications, such as the introduction of “stabilised parties” as investment partners, more flexibility in hiring asset managers, and modifications to the fund’s control over equity holdings.
He said that as implementation moves further, some sections would need more explanation.
Source: newsthemegh.com