Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake and his defence counterpart, Abubakar Badaru, are putting finishing touches on plans to secure mining areas in the Nigeria.
For the second time in less than three weeks, Badaru came calling at the minister’s office on Thursday, where they headed straight into a closed door meeting, a statement signed by Dr Alake’s media aide, Segun Tomori, said.
Emerging from the meeting, Badaru stated that the parley is in furtherance of collaboration to secure mining sites, across the country, reiterating the resolve of the President Bola Tinubu administration to wipe out the activities of illegal miners and attendant banditry associated with it.
“The country needs to make huge revenue from mining, but insecurity is bedevilling the industry. That s why the minister is pushing so hard for us to provide serious protection around the mining areas.
“And that is why we discuss always to see how we can protect the mining environment, bring lasting peace to the country, so that mining will flourish and the country will earn the much needed foreign exchange from the sector”, Badaru said.
Responding to enquiries about the proposed new security architecture, the Defence Minister said plans were underway for clearance operations at flash points as a prelude to the deployment of the specialised mining police.
On timelines for clearance operations, Badaru revealed that preparations have reached an advanced stage, citing collaboration with the solid minerals ministry to get the data of all mining sites in the country to enable coordinated security operations.
In his remarks, Dr Alake read the riot act, for the umpteenth time, to illegal miners and their sponsors, declaring that their days were numbered, as the federal government was committed to bringing the full weight of the law to bear on those that do not desist from the nefarious activities.
