Olamilekan Adegbite, minister of
mines and steel development, has accused some governors of supporting illegal
mining in the country.
He said this while addressing the
senate committee on solid minerals, mines, steel development and metallurgy on
Friday.
Adegbite said the governors, whom
he did not name, provide police escort for unlicensed foreign miners in their
states.
“You will find foreign nationals
encouraged by our people. Without naming them, we have some state governments
that are encouraging these foreign nationals that we are talking about and that
is why you see them with security operatives,” he said.
“When they send them to go and do
this, they need police. What do you expect a mining officer to do when the
state government is backing this illegal mining?”
Tanko Al-Makura, chairman of the
senate committee, described governors supporting the illegal activity as
“illegal miners themselves.”
He called for collaboration among
the senate, house of representatives and other stakeholders to tackle the
menace.
“Why are they governors giving
support to illegal miners? Now, the simple response or answer to that is that
they are helping illegal miners because they are illegal miners themselves,” he
said.
“There is nowhere illegal mining
can take place without the knowledge of the community; you cannot illegally
mine mineral resources without the consent and the participation of the
community.
“It then means that we must find
ways, structurally and legally, to encourage state governments not to
participate in illegal mining. That is only by carving a role for them. If you
look at the law on mining, it is in the exclusive list.
“There is a need for us to come
together – the Senate, the House of Representatives and other stakeholders in
the industry to sit down and unbundle this to give every level of government
some measure of participation without usurping the exclusive legislative
rights.”
Al-Makura, who is a former
governor of Nasarawa state, called more increased investments in the mining
sector.
He said such capital-intensive
sector should not be left to foreign entrepreneurs.
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