The Nasarawa State Police Command, on Tuesday, paraded 109 suspected illegal miners operating in the Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area of the state.
The Nasarawa State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Yakubu Kwanta, who witnessed the parade of the suspects, commended the police for the feat and called on illegal miners to desist.
Kwanta called on illegal miners operating in the state to rather form themselves into a cooperative society and register properly to do the business legally.
The Commissioner of Police, Umar Nadada, said the suspects were arrested following painstaking efforts by officers of the Anti-kidnapping Unit of the command in collaboration with the vigilantes in the Nasarawa Eggon LGA.
He explained that the operation commenced from Mada station to Wakama community, around the Alogani mountain stretch which kidnappers use as a hideout to keep their victims while awaiting ransom payment.
Nadada further narrated that the 109 suspects were arrested at different locations on the mountain carrying out illegal mining of solid minerals such as Topaz, Tin, and Aquamarine, adding that a Dane gun, cutlasses, and knives illegally mined solid minerals, among other items were recovered from the suspects as exhibits.
He said, “Yesterday, February 19, 2024, at about 6 am, the anti-kidnapping unit of the command in collaboration with vigilance groups from the Nasarawa Eggon LGA engaged in a massive raid of some criminal hideouts at Alogani Hills in the Nasarawa Eggon LGA.
“They raided from Mada station to Wakama area with a view to arresting suspected kidnappers. Unfortunately, some of them ran away but we were able to arrest some illegal miners, about 109 of them who are here.
“We immediately took them into custody and we have commenced investigations. We are ready to partner with the state government with a view to ensuring that these illegal miners are profiled and then further necessary actions will follow.”
In his remarks, the Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Kwanta, said, “We commend the Nasarawa State Command of the Nigeria Police Force under the leadership of the Commissioner of Police for this diligent operation that has apprehended these illegal artisanal miners in their hundreds. This can only be achieved with the benefit of hindsight backed by strong local experience.
“Let me, on behalf of His Excellency, the Executive Governor, thank you for this feat. On this note, I strongly put to them (suspected illegal miners) as an
order and a last chance to repent from their
illegal operation and form cooperative groups and get registered with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment as a first step followed by a further registration and profiling by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources for the purposes of documentation and identification of their operational status for peace and security. This they must do with the urgency it deserves before returning to their mining sites.
“This is a kind gesture in the posture of the current administration to allow for private business development and economic empowerment for poverty reduction, but this should not be a licence for illegality.”
Meanwhile, the Senator representing Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Senator Ekong Sampson, has expressed sadness that the activities of illegal miners were fuelling security crises across the country.
Sampson, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, said it was lamentable that Nigerians were collaborating with foreigners to defraud the nation of it mining resources.
In a statement by his media aide Mr Samuel Udoma, on Tuesday, the senator vowed to intensify investigations into the sector, in the interest of the country.
“We will continue to intensify efforts aimed at reviewing and streamlining mining activities in order to reposition the solid minerals sector,” he said.
The Senate had, through resolutions at plenary, late last year, mandated the Solid Minerals Committee to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the dwindling revenue derivable from solid minerals in the country.
The committee was also mandated to ascertain the extent and impact of illegal mining activities and the extent of complicity of both local and expatriate industry players.