Powerful Individuals Behind Illegal Mining in Nigeria, Says Mines Minister
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Olamilekan Adegbite, yesterday disclosed that ‘Powerful individuals’ were behind the surge in illegal mining activities in recent years across the country.
He informed that it had been discovered that the foreigners perpetrate the illegal act using the cover of the artisanal miners whom government in a bid to grow the economy at small scale levels had identified with their activities and christened them Artisanal and small-scale Miners with the consent of some monarchs and elites in the country.
Speaking further, he observed that unlike in the past when illegal mining cases were frivolously handled and let off, the suspected foreigners and their local accomplices would be investigated and prosecuted, adding that in the face of the dwindling fortunes of oil in the international market, the federal government had no other option than to focus on agriculture and solid minerals to survive as already captured in its diversification agenda.
Secondly, as a result of the economic downturn occasioned by the pandemic, currencies world over are being devalued, yet the price of gold, which was about $1,768/ounce the last time I checked, is still rallying.
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