Authorities of the Nigerian Armed Forces, on Monday, confirmed the arrest of no fewer than 387 individuals involved in illegal mining activities between January and July 2024.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Taoreed Lagbaja Lagbaja disclosed this during the investigative hearing into the activities of illegal miners.
He explained that Nigerian Army has so far conducted a wide range of operations across all the geopolitical zones of the country.
General Lagbaja who was represented by the Deputy Director Operations, Army headquarters, Colonel Tajudeen Lamidi said: “I think virtually as it is now, the Nigerian Army deployed almost every State of the country, for one of the operations or the other. Because of this, what we do basically is support those agencies that are constitutionally mandated to protect the critical national infrastructure of the country including mining.
“And in doing that in our operations, we have to contend with illegal miners and what we do is after arresting them we hand over to the appropriate agency available in that area. Some of these agencies including Department of State Security Services, the Nigerian Police Force, and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps.
“Sometimes we do conduct operations together where we go to some of these illegal mining sites together and conduct operations because Nigerian Army cannot prosecute them, we hand them over to those agencies to continue with the prosecution aspect.
“As contained in the memo, from December to date, we’ve arrested 387 individuals in connection to illegal mining. We also have vehicles and some of these minerals that were arrested and were handed over as exhibits to those agencies for them to be prosecuted.
“In summary I could say from December till date, in Abia we have 10 people arrested, in Ebonyi state we have 12, in Federal Capital Territory and its environs I mean places like Kuje, Gwagwalada, Bwari and co, we’ve arrested 276 individuals while in Osun State we’ve arrested 19. In Oyo particularly in the northern part of Oyo State where they shared boundary with Kwara State, that’s those places that are very close to Old Oyo National Park, we’ve arrested around 55 people, I think they mine consite in particular place with about 17 trucks closed with consite. In Plateau we have 25 while in Zamfara we have 15.”
He lamented that despite the ban placed on illegal mining activities in Zamfara, the Nigerian Army still arrested people in the State. Meaning that it is still taking place.
“Just like I said we will still continue to collaborate with the agencies that are constitutionally mandated to check illegal mining. But because we’ve realized that it’s a nexus between insecurity and illegal mining.
While giving insight into how host communities are involved in the illicit activities, General Lagbaja said: “The issue of host communities, the AVM talked about it, there’s poverty they are also involved in it and this makes it very very difficult to check illegal mining. It’s not only people coming from outside that are involved, the locals benefit from it.
“But the question is what is the role of State, what is the role of Local Government in illegal mining? I think most of the things rest with the federal government while the State and the local government don’t actually have roles to play. I think we need to look for roles for both the State and the Local Government to get involved.
“We also discovered, some of the companies, some companies have exploration licences, and not mining licences but what they do, they use one licence to do the two.
“We’ve mandated every Nigerian Army formation and unit to continue to support those agencies that are constitutionally mandated to fight illegal mining towards ridden out country from illegal mining and improve the economy.”
On his part, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa who blamed the illegal mining on weak regulations in the sector, underscored the need to strengthen the extant regulatory framework.
While noting that the host communities benefit from the activities of illegal mining, General Musa who was represented by the Director Operations Defence headquarters, Air Vice Marshall Nnemeka Ilo, harped on the need for synergy in the bid to win the war against illegal mining across the country.
He said: “The Leader of the House made mention of something about banning mining for like a year. It is very key we do that. Ban mining all across for one year. I know the country is going to somehow feel the effects in terms of revenue, but we need to go a little off the line to ensure that we get things right, so that we can decisively deal with those involved in this illegal mining.
“Then one thing we notice also is that, whether it’s coincidence or what, we can’t say, but we notice that insecurity thrives where this illegal mining is happening. Someone once said that the issue of banditry and terrorism is like a smokescreen to stop the governments and the military from dealing decisively with these people. I can’t for sure ascertain that fact, but I know fully well that there is a correlation between insecurity and illegal mining.
“On the issue of involvement of foreigners, we have foreigners involved in this illegal mining. The involvement of the elites in it, we can’t tell, but we know that most of the time when we catch these foreigners, they will tell us that they have connections. I don’t want to say some things, but sometimes you hand these people over, and the next thing you see, they are released.
“We have as far as people from Burkina Faso coming to mine in Nigeria. So the strength of our borders, too, is a factor. Why I’m saying all this is that there’s need for the government to equip properly those involved to checkmate most of this illegal mining. There is need for government to equip them properly and also give them the marching order. It’s one thing to say and another thing to see that the government is really committed to dealing with people.
“Anybody caught in this illegal mining must be dealt with decisively and examples should be made for others to know publicly that this is what the government is doing to ensure that we tackle that area.”
The CDS added; “So what is the way forward? The way forward from our own view is that we have to strengthen the regulatory framework for these mining activities. And also empowers the agencies involved in checking mining activities for them to do their work. We could go into this banning of mining for a year or two and then probably get the acts right.
“Anybody seen committing illegal mining will be dealt with decisively. Engaging the international community. In 2011 in Liberia, this same issue we are facing in Nigeria was obvious in Liberia. The international community was approached after they have seen the atrocities of things done. And that’s when the issue of blood diamond came up. What did they do? They banned the Liberia Diamond in the international community.”
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