*Dr. Oladele Alake, Minister for Solid Minerals Development, assures Nigerians that there will be no hiding place for illegal miners, as Mining Marshals are to be empowered with enhanced logistics and ammunition

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

As the Federal Government of Nigeria commemorates the first year of the inauguration of the Mining Marshals, Dr. Oladele Alake, Honourable Minister for Solid Minerals Development, has declared there will be no hiding place for illegal miners in the country.

Dr. Alake, who stated this at a press conference to mark the 1st Anniversary of the inauguration of the Corps, Friday, March 22, 2025, in Abuja, FCT, said there are ongoing efforts at strengthening operations of the Mining Marshals, and ensuring nationwide coverage.

The Minister emphasised that the establishment of the Mining Marshals, in 2024, has significantly disrupted unauthorised mining activities, and restored investor confidence in the minerals sector.

Segun Tomori, Special Assistant the Minister on Media quoted Alake to have stated: “The activation of the Corps to enforce provisions of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act (NMMA) has struck fear into illegal operators, largely curbing their operations and serving as a deterrent.

“The Mining Marshals held direct engagements across 10 states of聽 Niger, Kogi, Nasarawa, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Kaduna, Enugu, Abia, Kwara and the Federal Capital Territory, leading to the arrest of 327 suspected illegal miners; arraignment of 143 suspects; recovery of 98 mining sites and identification of 457 illegal mining sites.”

While the marshals’ operations have been somewhat hampered by logistical constraints, Alake reassured that with the increased budgetary allocation for the Ministry in the 2025 fiscal year, such limitations would be addressed

The Minister thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly (NASS) for appropriating a budget commensurate with the huge responsibilities of the Ministry in the 2025 Appropriation Act.

This funding, he noted, will enable the ministry to fully equip the Mining Marshals, enhance their operational capabilities, and extend their coverage nationwide.

It is recalled that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) recently approved N2.5 billion for the deployment of satellite technology to enhance the security architecture of the mining sector, which would consequently, aid the operations of the Mining Marshals in Nigeria.

According to the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, with the deployment of satellite monitoring, the Federal Government would be pioneering air and ground coverage for the security of the solid minerals sector – a major milestone in efforts at sanitising the sector of the economy.

Assessing the impact of the Mining Marshals over the past one year, the Minister asserted that 2,220 Corps at inception which has now been scaled up to 2, 670 operatives have raised awareness of the enforcement capacity of the Federal Government to combat illegal mining.

This has also established considerable deterrence among illegal miners and contributed to substantial increase in revenue, generated from the sector, stated he.

Alake equally commended ACC John Attah Onoja, Commandant of the Mining Marshals, for his leadership and dedication, reaffirming the Federal Government’s commitment to further strengthen the Corps with better logistics, additional personnel, equipment, and ammunition to decisively eliminate illegal mining.

In his remarks, Commandant ACC Onoja expressed gratitude to the Minister for his guidance and support.

Onoja said that the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) approved by the Minister had contributed immensely to the successes recorded over the past 365 days.

The Commandant welcomed the Federal Government’s gesture to boost their operations with improved logistics, emphasising that the corps is motivated to ramp up the battle against illegal mining with a view to sanitising the mining sector.

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