FG sets up task force to check illegal mining that cost Nigeria $9bn between 2014 & 2015

The Federal Government revealed Wednesday that it had approved the constitution of Special Mining Surveillance Task Force with the mandate of monitoring and curbing illegal mining across the country.

The development was in response to illegal mining of the country’s resources which led to a loss of $9bn between 2014 and 2015 alone.

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi, mentioned this to State House correspondents at the end the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Fayemi said the $9bn loss in the sector was contained in a recent report prepared by the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative.

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The minister explained that the loss was recorded mainly from the illegal export of gold, lead, tin and coal.

Fayemi revealed that FEC approved N987m for the purchase of 50 Toyota Hillux vehicles costing over N19m each, to be used for monitoring and curbing illegal mining in the 36 states and Abuja.

“The approval was sequel to the realisation that the deployment of one vehicle per state could not make significant impact in monitoring illegal mining,” Fayemi said.

 

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