Federal Government said, yesterday, that the country had lost $50 billion (N8 trillion) through illegal mining and exportation of unprocessed gold to neighbouring countries in the last 24 months.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Linus Awute, made this disclosure in an interview with Journalists at the Nigerian-Brazil Investment forum in Abuja.
He said: "What the country loses to illegal mining is tremendous. But the truth is that the amount of gold that left this country because of the illegal mining activities is more than $50 billion in the last two years.
"The amount of unprocessed gold that has left this country through the neighbouring countries, Ghana in particular, and being processed in Ashanti gold is enormous."
The Permanent Secretary said the activity of the illegal miners was beyond control, but assured that government had put measures in place to address the problem head-long.
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Nigeria loses N8trn to illegal gold mining
Nigeria loses N8trn to illegal gold mining
NigerianEye
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Thursday, February 28, 2013
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Over 6 billion lost to oil bunkering plus 50 billion to gold, not to mention other minerals! Imagine how many Nigerian Youths would have been in gainful employments, if such funds were to be channeled into our economy.
ReplyDeleteHalf. Cooked information, tell me the location with my B.Eng I will go & do sand digger or its equvalent labour in that location. Looted, bunkering & illegal mining all the the same thing.help ur ministry.
ReplyDeleteNwamama
Talk of unemployment entitlements. Talk of houses for the houseless. Talk of free medicare for the sick. Talk of free education for children of the poorest poor littered all over Nigeria. Ooh! So many talk ofs; and the money is frittered away into private pockets of mortals
ReplyDelete