Powerful Nigerians in illegal mining are the ones funding banditry, terrorism —Minister, Alake

The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, has alleged that powerful Nigerians involved in illegal mining were responsible for criminals activities, including sponsoring terrorism, and banditry in the country.

Alake, who made the accusation on Tuesday, when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Solid Minerals for the 2024 budget defence in Abuja, insisted that banditry and terrorism were being sponsored by illegal miners, stressing that they are not people who pick gold on the ground but powerful individuals in the country.

He added that the majority of the illegal miners were not foreigners, and that those of them involved in it have no proper immigration.

“Nigerians are those powerful people behind them; we are identifying them with both kynetic and non-kynetic means. We have encouraged those petty illegal miners to form cooperatives,” he said.

He noted that to generate the needed revenue from mining, there was a need to have a formal structure that the multinationals could deal with, just like the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd.

“Nigeria will also have its equity, this would mean that no government could destabilize the structure,” he said.

The Minister revealed that the conservative amount of minerals deposited in the country is over 700 billion dollars, adding that in Nigeria had not even accessed a quarter of what it has.

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The minister encouraged the Chairman of the Committee to support the process, adding that this would help change mining in the country.

He also said that the host communities where mining activities take place across the country would be engaged to forestall the breakdown of laws and order.

He also pleaded with the committee to consider the amount budgeted for the ministry in the 2024 budget proposal.

He said: “If we are given that amount of money, I can tell you that what the ministry will contribute will outweigh other ministries, including what we are deriving from oil.

“We can return trillions to the coffers of this country as revenue if we are given such a budget as proposed.”

He revealed that Nigeria has 44 minerals in high demand, with six that are in global demand, adding that Nigeria had the potential to become one of the destination hubs of the world’s economy through solid minerals.

He, however, emphasised the need to sanitize the operating environment for investors.

The Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Gaza Gbefwi, in his remarks, noted that the solid minerals sector remained the last hope for the country to attain the level of diversity it required.

He, however, said that the funds appropriated to the sector in the 2024 budget were grossly inadequate.

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