Dele Alake, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, says the federal government will deploy technology to monitor mining sites nationwide.

Mr Alake, in an interview on Sunday in Abuja, said the technology would be in addition to the 2,220 personnel of the Mining Marshal Corps drawn from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to combat illegal mining.

“We are introducing some technology; we are not just relying on men and materials alone,” said Mr Alake. “The satellite surveillance gadgets we are putting in there enable us to see all mining sites in Nigeria in real-time.”

”That reduces the time of knowledge and action. Right now, we depend on people passing intelligence to us, but when the satellite surveillance gadget is working, we will be able to see it ourselves,” he said.

The minister said that to attract investors to the sector, especially the big players, it was necessary to put in place policies and initiatives aimed at securing their investments.

“We needed to put in place policy measures to ensure that when these investors come, they are not just coming into the darkness that we had here before.

“They will ask some questions about the security of their operating environment, investment, personnel, and the ease of doing business in Nigeria and the sector,” he said.

He said President Bola Tinubu’s administration inherited many security challenges, such as banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism, associated with the solid mineral sector.

Mr Alake said concerted efforts are being deployed to curb the menace with other government agencies, such as the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Army, and the police, for rapid results.

Mr Alake also said plans are ongoing to establish six mineral centres in the six geo-political zones to boost the sector.

He said the plan was part of the current administration’s commitment to diversify the country’s economy by developing key sectors such as the solid minerals industry.

“Another one is the creation of six minerals centres in each of the six geo-political zones.

“We have our minerals all over the country, and we cannot concentrate the mineral processing centres in one centre, and as we speak, those plans are ongoing in the zones,” he said.

The minister had announced that mining companies would not be granted licences to operate without presenting a comprehensive plan for value addition, such as processing and refining.

Mr Alake said investors in the past extracted raw mineral resources from Nigeria without adding value to them, which he described as a great loss to the country’s economy.

(NAN)