The Renevlyn Development Initiative has linked reports of significant revenue leakages in the mining sector to illegal operations of Chinese companies in Nigeria.

RDI, in its publication ‘Silent Conquest: The Chinese Infiltration of Nigeria’s Solid Minerals Sector’, said its findings showed these operations threaten Nigeria’s efforts to diversify its economy and boost revenue from mineral wealth.

The report, published on the organisation’s website on Thursday, was authored by RDI’s executive director, Philip Jakpor and Sam Orovwuje.

The report, spanning 2018 to 2025, highlighted developments from 2022 when Nigeria accelerated efforts to diversify its economy beyond oil and gas. It relied on documentary analysis, data review and media content analysis, drawn from verified official and open sources.

It analysed mining activities in major mineral-rich states, including Zamfara, Nasarawa, Kogi, Osun, Kwara, Plateau, and Niger, where reported cases of illegal mining and foreign involvement were most prevalent.

According to the report, the consequences of this unregulated activity extend beyond economic losses to include environmental degradation in host communities and the displacement of local farmers.

“In many host communities, illegal operations have turned farmlands, forests and riverbeds into unregulated extraction fields, causing environmental degradation, increasing social tension, and depriving the government of substantial revenue. The absence of effective enforcement by the relevant government agencies has allowed foreign and artisan miners alike to operate with little regard for standards or community welfare,” it stated.

The report noted that the growing presence of Chinese nationals and their local collaborators in illegal mining networks thrived under weak regulation, institutional complicity and systemic opacity.

The findings confirmed an active and expanding Chinese intrusion into Nigeria’s mineral corridors, backed by impunity, inconsistent enforcement, weak governance, internal collusion, and lack of effective community protection.

“Without firm and coordinated government action, the sector risks slipping further into the hands of unregulated actors who undermine national security and deprive the country of significant revenue,” the report noted.

It added that its findings established a link between illegal mining and the operations of armed groups, especially in northern Nigeria, underscoring the national security implications of this “silent conquest”.

“This pattern underscores the urgent need for decisive governance reforms and stronger oversight mechanisms to prevent the solid minerals sector from becoming another chapter in Nigeria’s long history of resource mismanagement,” the report noted.

It added that the publication should serve as a clarion call for strong political will to enforce transparency, prosecute offenders without fear or favour and protect host communities from exploitation. Additionally, it recommended that illegal mining be criminalised as economic sabotage, with offenders prosecuted and subjected to custodial sentences, and that all confiscated equipment and minerals be forfeited to the state.

The report also said the legal framework for mining should be modernised and strengthened, and that security agencies such as the EFCC, mining marshals, and local vigilante groups in host communities should be reinforced.

It urged the government to tighten scrutiny of foreign operators, reform visa issuance for foreign mining workers, and hold environmental polluters accountable.

(NAN)