By Cross Udo, Abuja
Yesterday, the federal government lamented that it had lost trillions of naira due to illegal mining operators, especially in the states.
The government also said that it has arrested and prosecuted four foreigners engaged in illegal mining operations and that mining marshals have arrested 320 people.
Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, which President Bola Tinubu presided over at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Minister also said the Federal Government has faced challenges in fully controlling gold mining, particularly in northern Nigeria, due to cultural sensitivities.
Alake revealed that the council has approved a new initiative to enhance regulation and curb revenue losses in the sector.
He said the government would deploy satellite technology to monitor key mining sites and track activities in real-time as part of the initiative.
Alake further stated that the Federal Government prefers collaborating with state governments in mineral-rich areas to prevent unregulated mining operations and ensure proper oversight.
He said on the arrests so far, “The number of foreigners apprehended at the last count was about four. I wouldn’t want to mention the nationalities of the foreigners apprehended, prosecuted, and convicted.
“And the Mine Marshals had the last couple of months apprehended over 320 illegal operators. Out of this, about 150 are undergoing prosecution, and about nine have been convicted fully, while about four foreigners have also been convicted fully. So the work is pari-parsu with the technology we want to introduce.”
Briefing on the memo he presented to the Council, the Minister 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 effects in terms of revenue leakages, illegal operations, and illegal extraction and exploitation of our minerals.
“So what this integrated solution framework means is that you recall that on the assumption of duty when we surveyed the landscape of the sector, we identified those diverse communities, and we started putting policy initiatives 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, persuasive, appealed to the sense of responsibility of artisanal miners and the so-called illegal miners, appealing to them to form cooperatives. When they form cooperatives, they become structured, formalized, and legalized, and their operation can now add some value even to the nation.
“They can even access financial institutions to procure loans to expand their businesses. And, of course, once they become legalized and structured, they have to pay their obligations to the Nigerian state, and that’s a persuasive aspect of our strategy.
“When I launched that last year, we persuaded these so-called illegal and artisanal miners to form over 300 cooperative societies. They have been formed, are fully legalized, structured, and contribute meaningfully to the economy.
“And, of course, because they won’t be labeled illegal operators anymore. They will not have to look over their shoulders, so this persuasive strategy has worked. It is very gratifying to know people are responding.”
Answering questions on the benefits of deploying satellite technology to monitor key mining sites and track activities in real-time and the time it will take off, Alake said that how soon it would take off was dependent on mobilization.
However, he said they should be on the field in a maximum of one month because they have been given a timeline and timeframe.
He said, “The government is interested in ensuring their mobilization is done quickly. The prices they quoted, which were reviewed downwards, would not be static because of the vagaries of fluctuation in the global economy.
“Most of these gadgets are not made in Nigeria. They have to be imported. So, considering price fluctuations is in our best interest to ensure they are funded, mobilised quickly, and start before prices change. And they’re asking for any review, so we are looking at a month maximum for them to be on the field.
“Now, as to the issue of direct benefits, there are just too many, too varied, and too many variants to start enumerating. One, this will combat unregulated mining activities and unlicensed mining operators underreporting even production at mining sites.
“In the past, a very elementary, non-scientific estimate that we did in 2023 immediately we resumed revealed trillions that the nation had lost through this unregulated, under-reporting, and unlicensed activities in the mining sector.
“Somebody mentioned gold. How much has the nation gotten in gold? You should ask me how much the country has lost in gold because it’s humongous. It is mind-boggling; it is unheard of.
“And why? Because we have a very vast territory, it also affects security. Nigeria is so extensive that policing every inch of our large territory is almost impossible. So all we have to do is introduce technological gadgets enabling us to see what’s going on, even in the remotest parts of the country.
“So the benefits in terms of revenue are that once we identify revenue leakage and it is plugged, the revenue starts coming into government. So it’s humongous. If we are going by the estimate of losses, which is in trillions, then we can fairly accurately project the revenue that we will derive from all these projects when they are fully on the street; it will also be mind-boggling.”
The Minister said that establishing the Nigerian Mining Corporation was going well.
“As we are here sitting, the Committee is meeting in my conference room, the office. Now, the President has also graciously approved the appointment of the CEO of that company. And his name is Martin’s Imoniti.
“He was headhunted from Australia. Australia is one of the biggest mining countries in the world, and from Western Australia, in particular, he has been in the mining finance sector in Australia. So all the big players in the region and the mining in the world are at his tips, and we had to head hunt him to come and take off this Nigerian minerals corporation.
“So it’s going on very, very well. The Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MORFI) is going to midwife it. Don’t forget that I announced that the private sector will substantially control or manage it. The equity structure we have laid out will be 50 percent to the private sector, 25 percent to the government of federation, and 25 percent to individuals.”
Fielding questions on the state’s involvement in mining, which is on the exclusive legislative list, Alake said, “This is a critical point you’ve mentioned: governors 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 sensitive issue. Now, we run the federalism; at least, we are called the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and there is a clear separation of powers in the Constitution. There is an exclusive list that belongs to the purview of the federal government. A residual list belongs to the state, and there is a concurrent.
“Now, the concurrent is where two interests, state and the federal, collide. But even if such a collision occurs simultaneously, the federal government takes precedence regarding authority. So mining minerals, whether liquid or solid, belongs exclusively in the federal government’s purview.
“I have met the governors. I’ve had a meeting with the governors at their Secretariat, which was organized by the chairman of the governor’s forum, the governor of Kwara. Thirty-two were present, and I had a very robust exchange with them. And I told them some didn’t feign ignorance of the constitutional separation of powers. I assume all governors have attorneys general, except those attorneys do not live up to their billing.
“But I did explain to them this exclusivity of the mining sector as belonging to the purview of the federal government, and a lot of them understood, but there is a sensitivity given the peculiarity of our environment, political environment, social environment, cultural environment, which we recognise, and I exceptionally will not be to heat the quality unnecessarily.
“I’ve had a lot of calls, even from the media, calling on me to confront this governor, confront that governor. That is not how to do it. I would instead engage with them. Each of the governors has come up with such outlandish policies and all that. I’ve had to call, I’ve had to engage with, I have to enlighten, educate, and in some instances, and we’ve been able to resolve all these contentious issues. So, the engagement is a continuous process.
“However, because of the sensitivity, as I told you, we are willing to bend over backward, and we have done so. And I told the governors when I met them, we know that you own the soil. You own the land according to the land use decree; the state owns the land. Now, a potential miner will need to obtain the consent of the host community and a letter of consent, which is required for us to approve title licenses. Now, that gives up some room for the states to exercise or exact some authority over the land.
“However, the Nigerian Mining Act 207 also stipulates that wherever there is a mineral, that particular spot belongs to the federal government. So, that also removes the authority of the state. But even then, we are not going by that. We want to accommodate everybody. So I announced to the governors, “Look, you have this land, you have the minerals situated in your various states. “
“Now, what stops you as a state from forming an SPV, a special purpose vehicle, like a company, to apply for a mining license of a site in your own state? I will approve involving them and giving them a sense of belonging.”
“So it is not an us versus them situation because this is a commonwealth for all of us, and we want first communities to benefit, the state to benefit, and the federal government to benefit, which cuts across all Nigerians. They bought into it the last time so many of them applied. I have approved their licenses for them.
“Any state that applies for a license to operate, I approve immediately. The President approved me to give them the licenses, and it’s even better for us because they own the land. They operate on their land, so they will operate more environmentally sustainably because they will not want to damage or degrade their environment themselves.”
