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• Cultural, political sensitivities hindering gold mining control —Minister
By Egena Sunday Ode
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the procurement of a satellite equipment to be deployed in the monitoring of mining operations across the country.
The equipment which will cost about N2.5 billion is expected to curb illegal mining of solid minerals and revenue losses when deployed.
Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the outcome of FEC meeting, presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday.
He noted that illegal mining has cost the nation trillions of naira but said with the new technology, there will be enhanced regulation and revenue losses in the sector will be a thing of the past as activities in key mining sites will be tracked in real-time.
He said: “Today, at FEC, a memo was approved for the Solid Minerals Ministry specifically to procure an integrated solution framework to combat unlicensed, unregulated, under reported mining activities, which had led to serious notorious effect in terms of revenue leakages, illegal operations and illegal extraction and exploitation of our minerals .
“So what this integrated solution framework actually means is that you recall that on assumption of duty, when we surveyed the landscape of the sector, we recognized, identified those diverse communities and we started putting policy initiative in place , one of which is the establishment of the Mining Marshalls to combat illegal mining.
“Our approach was two pronged-one was persuasive, the other coercive. The persuasive was appealing to the sense of responsibility of artisanal miners and the so called illegal miners, appealing to them to form cooperatives. Because when they do form cooperatives, they become structured, formalized and legalized, and their operations can now add some value even to the nation, because when they become cooperatives, they become bankable. They can even have access to financial institutions to procure loans to expand their businesses. And of course, once they become legalized and structured, it means they have to pay their obligations to the Nigerian state, and so that’s a persuasive aspect of our strategy.
“When I launched that last year, we have been able to persuade these so called illegal and artisanal miners to form over 300 cooperative societies. Now, they’ve been formed, and they are fully legalized, fully structured, and contributing meaningfully. And of course, they won’t be labeled illegal operators anymore. They will not have to look over their shoulders so this persuasive strategy has really been working. Its very grattifying to know people are responding.
“Now the coercive part of the measure or the strategy is for those who are recalcitrant, those who fail to heed the appeal, those who fail to take opportunity of the persuasive method of our strategy, those who are Incorrigible, you know, to be pervious to correction. Then we use the coasive measure, and that is epitomized by the mining measures that we established. And to date, we have arrested, prosecuted and convicted. Apprehended, illegal operators, including foreigners.
“Now, with all of these policy initiative, we still see the need to introduce technology into our overall strategy, and that is the basis of today’s memo that was approved by FEC. So we are procuring satellite equipment, satellite gadgets that will be installed in strategic places all over the country that would enable us to have visual effect, real time, of the operations that are ongoing in sites all over the country.
“And of course, there will be a centre like a screen, which will have in the operation center, the mines martial center, and in my office as well. So at a glance at the click of a button, you can surf to any mine site you want, and see the operations that’s going on there, and see the volume of the mineral that is extracted, the number of trucks that are going out, and, of course, the security situation in the environment. That is the essence of the memo that was approved today. And the satellite gadget will be supplied to us at the cost of 2.5 billion naira.”
Answering questions from newsmen at the post FEC briefing, the Minister also disclosed that the Federal Government is faced challenges in fully controlling gold mining, particularly in northern Nigeria, due to cultural sensitivities. According to him, even though minerals are on the exclusive list in the Constitution, which make it the exclusive preserve of the Federal Government, the federal authorities have to bend backwards most times due to political and cultural sensitivities of the people. Alake further equally stated that the Federal Government would prefer to collaborate with state governments in mineral-rich areas to prevent unregulated mining operations and ensure proper oversight. “States interference! This is a very important point. You’ve mentioned governors are interfering in maybe banning mining activities or sealing up mining companies and all of that. I’ve been in a running battle with the state authorities on this very sensitive issue. “Now we run the federalism, at least we are called the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and there is clear separation of powers in the Constitution. There is exclusive list which belongs to the purview of the federal government. There is a residual list which belongs to the state, and there is a concurrent. Now, the concurrent is one or two state and the federal collapse. But even in the concurrent, in such a coalition of cause, the federal government takes precedence in terms of authority. So mining minerals, whether liquid, whether solid, belongs exclusively in the purview of the federal government. “
