The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, has alleged that powerful Nigerians involved in illegal mining were the ones sponsoring banditry and terrorism in the country.

Mr Alake said this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Solid Minerals for the 2024 budget defence on Tuesday in Abuja.

According to him, a lot of banditry and terrorism are sponsored by illegal miners; they are not people who pick gold on the ground but powerful individuals in the country.

“Nigerians are those powerful people behind them; we are identifying them with both kinetic and non-kinetic means. We have encouraged those petty illegal miners to form cooperatives,” said the minister.

Mr Alake said the most disturbing aspect was that most foreigners engaged in illegal mining in the country had no proper immigration.

He said for mining to generate the requisite revenue, there was a need to have a formal structure that the multinationals could deal with, just like the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd.

The minister, however, said the ministry’s approach under his leadership would be different from NNPCL. He added that the proposed structure for Nigeria Mining Cooperation would be primarily private-sector driven.

He said the conservative amount of minerals deposited in the country was over $700 billion, adding Nigeria had not even accessed a quarter of what it has.

Mr Alake urged the committee chairman to support the process, adding that this would help change mining in the country.

He also said the host communities where mining activities occurred across the country would be engaged to forestall the breakdown of laws and orders.

The minister pleaded with the committee to consider the amount budgeted for the ministry in the 2024 budget proposal.

“If we are given that amount of money, I can tell you that what the ministry will contribute will outweigh other ministries, including what we are deriving from oil.

“We can return trillions to the coffers of this country as revenue if we are given such a budget as proposed,” he said.

The committee chairman, Gaza Gbefwi (SDP -Nasarawa), said the funds appropriated to the sector in the 2024 budget were grossly inadequate.

He added that the committee had taken proactive steps to make motions and bills to strengthen and reorganise the sector. 

(NAN)