Solid Minerals minister, Dele Alake, has raised an alarm that he has been receiving life threatening messages following his comment on how powerful Nigerians are funding banditry associated with illegal mining in the country. .
He disclosed this on Monday during an on-the-spot assessment of the effect of the explosion that rocked the ancient city of Ibadan, killing five people while properties worth billions of naira were destroyed.
According to the Minister, the threats trailed his comment at the National Assembly on the involvement of powerful and highly-placed Nigerians in illegal minings.
Nigerian Tribune reports him saying: “I said it during my Ministry’s budget defence at the National Assembly that powerful Nigerians are behind the banditry associated with illegal mining in the country.
“I said it openly. However, since I made the disclosure, I have been receiving threats but we are undaunted because it has to be said.
“In any case, I was not saying anything new. Most people knew it. Most people have been saying it. I only gave it an official stamp based on the intelligence report.
“There is a lot of connivance among the strata of the society, both the high, medium and low. It is not an exclusive preserve of just the high up.”
To curb the trend, the Minister disclosed that the government is employing the kinetic and non-kinetic strategies and tactics.
He also added that the Federal Government is working in concert with all the critical stakeholders at the state, local government and host communities in order to bring to an end the activities of the illegal miners.
The involvement of the host communities, according to him, “became imperative because at the end of the day, whatever security strategy that we come up with, we have to involve the host communities, the people on the ground who have efficient knowledge of the local terrain, we cannot do without them.
“One of the things that happen now even in the forest that is unknown to many people is that the bandits who are being sponsored by the highly placed Nigerians have access to funding and a heavy arsenal.
“They even laid mines on the ground against our ground forces that are moving in the forest to dislodge. That is why we require the presence, involvement and engagement of the military,” he added.
Speaking on the Ibadan explosion, the Minister who condemned the stockpiling of explosives in a residential area, said it is too early to make a categorical statement while the findings are still on.
“It will be presumptuous and precipitous for the Federal government to make any solid pronouncement or categorical statement on this incident until we have examined all the forensic analysis reports, the investigations from the various security agencies and the Mines Inspectorate division of the Ministry of Solid Minerals.”
He, however, assured that justice would be served on whoever found culpable irrespective of how highly placed in the society.
The Nation in a story titled “Minister: influential Nigerians behind illegal mining” which was published in its
December 13, 2023 edition, reported as follows:
Heavy and powerful Nigerians involved in illegal mining are behind insecurity, especially in parts of the country with huge solid minerals deposits, Solid Minerals Development Minister Dele Alake said yesterday (December 12, 2023).
Alake said their activities were not only making the sector unfriendly for genuine foreign investors, but denying the nation huge incomes.
He, however, disclosed that the Federal Government was “identifying” the errant miners through kinetic and non-kinetic approaches to make areas with huge solid minerals secure for those interested in investing in the sector.
Alake spoke when he appeared before the House Committee on Solid Minerals to defend the ministry’s 2024 budget estimate.
At another event in Abuja, the minister said the government, through his ministry, was ready to collaborate with the World Bank to maximally tap the nation’s solid minerals.
During the budget defence, Alake said: “One discovery that we have made is that a lot of these insecurities, especially banditry associated with this sector are 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. They are Nigerians and not foreigners.
“You can see foreigners as symptoms, but they are not the basics. 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.
“The non-kinetic with that artisanal miners, I gave them an ultimatum that they should form themselves into cooperatives because every Nigerian has a right to life and necessities and if the government cannot provide these necessities, we cannot push them into the bush.”
He added that the ministry encouraged small-scale miners to form cooperative societies, adding that as at the last count, about 50 had come into existence.
The minister also revealed that foreign investors have begun to make more enquiries about the possibility of investing in the sector.
According to him, the ministry has identified about 44 key solid mineral deposits in the country out of which seven are in high demand because of their importance.
