The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, has directed mining new marshals drawn from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps to smoke out illegal miners and all those flouting the nation’s mining laws.

Mr Alake gave the directive while inaugurating the first batch of mining marshals drawn from the NSCDC to combat illegal mining.

He said that 60 marshals have been specially trained and deployed to the 36 states across the federation and the Federal Capital Territory

The minister said that the newly activated mining marshal corps, which currently has 2,220 personnel, is an inter-agency security outfit established to secure the mining environment.

He said that plans were underway for other security sister agencies to integrate their officers into the outfit structure across the country for a robust output.

According to the minister, the ministry plays a pivotal role in supporting the operations of the mine marshals to ensure their success.

`Effective intelligence gathering through our state mines inspectorate, harnessing valid data of troubled mining areas and giving the requisite directives for precise operations are necessary factors for coordination of the activities of the marshals.

The minister earlier held a closed-door meeting with the Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru, to discuss securing the mining environment.

Mr Badaru stated that the Federal Government was already making headway in routing illegal miners, as clearance operations have commenced in some troubled spots.

President Bola Tinubu established a presidential inter-ministerial committee on January 17 to produce a blueprint for securing Nigeria`s natural resources comprising mineral sites, marine economy and the forest.

(NAN)