Dele Alake, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, and his defence counterpart, Abubakar Badaru, on Friday said they have finalised strategies to secure mining areas in the country.
Speaking at the end of a closed door meeting with the minister of solid minerals, Badaru stated that the parley was in furtherance of President Bola Tinubu administration’s mandate 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,” Badaru said.
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“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 exchangefrom the sector.”
Speaking on the proposed new security architecture, the Defence Minister restated that plans are underway for clearance operations at flash points as a prelude to the deployment of the specialised mining police.
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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, Alake read the riot act, for the umpteenth time, to illegal miners and their sponsors, declaring that their days are numbered, as the Federal government is committed to bringing the full weight of the law to bear on those that do not desist from these nefarious activities.
