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By Emmanuel Adeleke
Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has disclosed that powerful Nigerians are behind illegal mining in the country.
Alake made this disclosure when he appeared before the House of Representatives committee on solid minerals to defend the ministry’s 2024 budget estimate, on Tuesday.
The minister accused those behind illegal mining of also sponsoring banditry.
“One pernicious discovery that we have made is that a lot of these banditry, terrorism, and insecurity that we associate with this sector are actually sponsored by illegal miners.
“These are not your artisanal miners. They are not the people who pick gold on the ground. These are heavy and powerful individuals in our country. And they are Nigerians. They are not foreigners.
“Yes, you can see foreigners as symptoms, but they are not the disease. Nigerians are the powers behind those foreigners that you see on the streets. We are identifying them and employing various strategies, both kinetic and non-kinetic,” Alake said.
The minister added that as part of his seven-point agenda, he gave an ultimatum to petty illegal miners to join cooperatives and be registered in order to be recognised by the government.
He said the essence of asking the illegal miners to register with cooperatives and be formalised was to ensure they do their businesses legitimately and earn a legitimate living.
“Because every Nigerian has a right to life and necessities and so if the government cannot provide these necessities, we cannot push them into the bush,” Alake said.
According to thr minister, when the illegal miners are registered, the government can identify them and derive the necessary royalties and taxes.
He said the royalties and taxes were lost because the government could not be chasing individual miners all over the place, adding that over 50 cooperative societies have been formed since the policy was announced and more people are still registering.
“We strive to legitimise them and make them responsible citizens of Nigeria,” Alake said.