Miners in the country have expressed their support to the establishment of Solid Minerals Special Task Force (SMSTF) in order to control illegal mining activities in the country.
They also said the Nigerian government loses above $3billion revenue to solid minerals theft and illegal mining activities.
This was revealed by the representative and spokesperson of the mining stakeholders in the country, Alhaji Mohammed Abba Liman, the chief executive officer of Daroo Nigeria Ltd, in Abuja, yesterday, during a chat with newsmen.
According to Liman, “The Solid Minerals Special Task Force (SMSTF), which the Honourable Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, set up is a welcome development.
“It is very important because it is going to drastically reduce, if not stop the continuous stealing of our solid minerals to the activities of illegal mining in our country.
“The Nigerian economy is losing above $3billion annually to illegal mining activities, a situation whereby our mineral resources such as gold, tin, diamond, lithium, and other precious stones are being illegally excavated and exported outside Nigeria by Nigerians and foreigners”, he said.
This development, according to him, “is unacceptable and it should be stopped or else the commendable efforts of the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, to diversify the Nigerian economy through the solid minerals sector will be frustrated”.
He said that from North West, North East, North Central, South West in particular, Nigerian solid mineral resources are being frittered away like criminal elements steal oil in the Niger Delta.
Furthermore, Liman stated that, “if illegal mining activities are stopped through the task force set up by the ministry, it will allow federal government to monitor activities of licenced and genuine companies to operate thereby making it possible for the present administration to be able to evaluate their economic contributions of companies that are doing legal mining operations in the country”, he said.
The miner added that, “As critical stakeholders in the sector, we will support the SMSTF and we will partner with the Ministry and the visionary Minister towards ensuring that the objective of the task force is actualised”.
It would be recalled that the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development recently set up the SMSTF in order to bring under control the illegal mining activities across Nigeria with a view to stopping theft, economic sabotage and reducing the national security implications.
