The Federal Government has raised the alarm over the illegalities going on around mining sites between Nasarawa State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
It said if nothing was done to check the situation, it could degenerate to a stage that might overwhelm the the federal and Nasarawa State governments to handle.
The Minister for Solid Minerals Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, disclosed this when he hosted Nasarawa State governor, Abdullahi Sule, in his office in Abuja.
The minister noted that the activities around the mining sites were already a security threat, saying if urgent measures were not taken, the border areas of the state and the FCT could face a scenario worse than the banditry in Zamfara.
He called for collaboration between the federal and state governments to ensure security is beefed up around areas known to have gold deposits along the border of Nasarawa and the FCT.
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He also raised concerns over perceived illegalities associated with gold mining, especially banditry as is currently happening in Zamfara State, where the state government has to place a ban on gold mining activities.
He said the Federal Government is currently taking adequate measures to prevent banditry and other illegalities along the gold sites on the Nasarawa/FCT border.
“We want to nip this in the bud, we don’t want banditry to come to Nasarawa and Abuja on the trail of gold, as is happening in Zamfara unfortunately,” Adegbite said.
“We don’t want a repeat of that in Nasarawa, so we are going to be working with security agencies and possibly including the military, to make sure that we prevent such occurrence in this axis,” the minister said.
He promised to also nip in the bud whatever that is happening there that is undesirable.
Adegbite said the Federal Government has expended N15 billion on minerals exploration across the country, under the ministry’s National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project, with tracts of gold deposits discovered between Nasarawa and Abuja.
He further disclosed that already, the Federal Government is marketing the data gathered from the exploration project internationally, with investors showing interest to come in and mine gold through proper licensing.
Responding, Governor Abdullahi Sule thanked the minister as well as the Federal Government for undertaking the minerals exploration exercise across the country and the amount of data generated from the exercise.
He said his administration strongly believes that the future of Nigeria is in minerals, not necessarily in oil and gas anymore, stressing that the country deviates from oil and gas gradually, it is going into minerals.
