The Ministry of Solid Minerals Development has issued a warning to international businesses that support banditry in order to carry out illicit mining activities within the nation.
This was revealed in a statement released on Friday by Alaba Balogun, the head of press and public relations for the Ministry, on behalf of Oladele Alake, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development.
When a group from the Nigeria-China Chamber of Mines, led by Dr. Olugbenga Ajala, the organization’s national president, paid him a courtesy call in his office at the Ministry’s Abuja headquarters, Alake gave the warning.
According to Alake, the Ministry is dedicated to creating a multi-agency task force that will put an end to the illegal miners’ and their allies’ operations.
He restated the government’s position that illegal miners have 30 days to obtain legal status so they can carry on with their business.
This will aid in “streamlining and structuring the Small-Scale Artisanal Miners for maximum yield to the Federal Government,” according to the Minister.
Speaking through you, I will use this platform to urge the sponsors of unlawful mining to stop or else they would be held fully accountable by the law, he declared. “The government will come down firmly on these unscrupulous foreign operators sponsoring banditry to perpetrate illegal mining.”
