Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City
The Edo State Government has announced that it would work out modalities to regulate the activities of miners in the state to avoid chaos in the sector and boost its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
The state government also said that the gold mining site in Dagbala, Akoko-Edo Local Government Area that was shut recently for security reasons would soon be reopened to licensed miners only.
It would be recalled that the state government sometimes last year, closed the Dangbala mining following the invasion of the area by operators irregular mining activities.
Speaking to journalists during a parley in Benin City yesterday, the Edo State Commissioner for Mining and Energy, Mr. Peter Uzamere, said that though mining is under the exclusive list of the federal government, the state government is doing everything to collaborate with the federal government to set up a solid mineral exploration company as a way of generating revenue.
Uzamere said: “As a way of benefitting from the plenteous solid minerals in the state which exploration is in the exclusive legislative list, Edo State Government will soon set up a solid mineral exploration company as a way of generating additional revenue for the state.
“We have started the process of floating a solid minerals mining company, we have got some approvals but we are also being very careful because what we have noticed is that when businesses are run by governments, especially when politics becomes part of it, it has issues so we are in the process of putting a package together that will make that a reality and will not have the same encumbrances government businesses get.”
Uzamere added that “Dagbala was closed down because of security challenges in the mining area, we had security reports that suspected terrorists were coming to the area and the state had to shut the place down to avoid what happened in some other areas of the country from happening there.
“Sometimes the mining terrain is difficult to monitor but as at now, we have got the rightful miners and the people that have licenses to mine gold there so when we open the site, only the people with license will have access to the place and we will do this in collaboration with the federal government and the local government area to monitor the place.”
