The Minister of Solid Mineral, Dele Alake, has blamed unnamed ‘Powerful Nigerians’ for the illegal mining activities and acts of terrorism going on in different parts of the country.
Alake made the allegation on Tuesday when he led a delegation of top officials of the ministry to defend the 2024, budget estimates before the House Committee on Solid Minerals at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.
He added that the banditry ongoing in the land may have a foreign component but noted that the major sponsors are Nigerians yet to be identified.
“Nigerians are those powerful people behind them (illegal miners); we are identifying them with both kinetic and non-kinetic means. The insecurity in the mining areas is sponsored by illegal mines and these are powerful individuals in the society who are Nigerians,” he said.
He added that for mining to generate sufficient revenue, there was a need to have a formal structure that the multinational could deal with, just like the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd.
He, however, said that the approach of the ministry under his leadership would be different from NNPCL, adding that the structure being proposed for Nigeria Mining Cooperation would be largely private sector-driven.
He added that “Nigeria will also have its equity, adding that this would mean that no government after could destabilize the structure.
Alake put the conservative worth of minerals deposited in the country at over $700bn dollars, adding that Nigeria was yet to tap commercially into some of its solid minerals demanded globally owing to institutional bottlenecks.
