The minister has his job clearly cut out
The 30-day ultimatum given all illegal miners to join notable cooperatives or face the full wrath of the law by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, is in the right direction. The plan to establish a surveillance task force that would include policemen and other relevant agencies to secure the mines is also a good one. But the challenge remains how to enforce the law in a sector now almost captured by criminal cartels. The spate of illegal mining activities in several states, especially in the north, is not only undermining the economy, but has also thrown up security challenges with widespread cases of banditry, kidnapping and community unrest.
Indeed, the bid to exploit mineral deposits by criminal networks is fuelling community violence particularly in Zamfara where some influential and well-connected individuals connive with some foreign corporations to loot the commonwealth of the nation. According to a former governor of the state who is now a senator, Abdulaziz Yari, over $500 million was being generated annually, with no single naira going into the public treasury. Since the problem is national, no reasonable country should allow such brazen economic haemorrhage.
Just recently, the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), announced that dozens of illegal miners have been arrested in the past one year with truckloads of assorted minerals. These culprits reportedly operate different mining sites without permits. The development validates the 2018 Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) solid mineral sector report which highlighted the prevalence of illegal mining activities in the country. The comprehensive audit explained that except for isolated cases of registered cooperative societies, the sector is largely challenged by illegal miners. About 80 per cent of mining in the Northwest region is said to be carried out illegally.
To be sure, Nigeria’s solid minerals sector is private sector driven. Through a cadastre-like system, the government allocates mineral titles to investors and subsequently provides oversight functions through policy direction and regulations. The country’s law in the sector also specifies who could be in possession of or purchase minerals in Nigeria and establishes Minerals Buying Centre (MBC) which according to NEITI are more than 100 across the country. But from Osun to Niger and elsewhere, illegal mining is done in the open.
A recent report commissioned by Global Rights blamed the federal government for the challenge in the mining sector. Lead researcher, Nana Nwachukwu listed factors promoting illegal mining activities in the country to include poverty, high cost and cumbersome criteria required for formalising operation, and the lucrative nature of the illicit business. While artisanal mining makes up about 80 per cent of all mining activities in Nigeria, that aspect of the sector is not properly defined. “There is a lot of confusion in the industry about what is illegal mining, unregulated mining, and informal mining. Those are terms that have come up overtime and it is about what level of responsibility the government is willing to take for itself,” said Global Rights executive director, Abiodun Baiyewu.
Even so, we must acknowledge some of the reforms initiated by the immediate past administration. These include improving mobility for field officers and organising artisanal miners into cooperatives. The challenge of the moment is how to improve on them to significantly reduce the incidence of illegal mining in the country. There should also be more focus on how to properly organise the sector to attract local and foreign investors. Now that he has pledged to confront that challenge, Alake has his job cut out for him.
