Osun state has taken a bold step towards ending the scourge of illegal mining and fully exploit economic opportunities abound in the mining of solid minerals by registering artisanal miners in several mining locations and communities across the state.
Findings by our correspondent revealed that the government, with this intervention, will restore sanity in the process of exploring and exploiting mineral resources, thus checking revenue leaks in the state.
Investigations by BusinessDay also revealed that Osun state, through Chams Plc, a technology solutions company, has taken biometric details of over 5,000 artisanal miners doing business in the state.
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Speaking to our correspondent, Special Adviser to the Governor on Forestry, Natural and Mineral Resources, Babatunde Ajilore, claimed that about 5,000 miners now registered biometrics in the state and, adequate security is guaranteed around the host communities.
According to him, the registration, though continuous, has given the state adequate database structure that will create opportunities for artisanal miners, saying with the database, the state will organize the artisanal miners into cooperative societies for empowerment.
Ajilore also said the government had painstakingly restored orderliness and put in place, proper regulatory measures to curb illegal mining in the state.
He said government’s effort to know those behind mining activities in the state was borne out of its determination to protect lives and property of the residents against environmental degradation and as well to raise revenue bar of the state.
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“The governor initiative on precious stones which gold is one of them started in May 2017 and it is targeted at organising the activities of the miners. There has been a lot of chaos regarding environmental degradation and a lot of security concerns but we have painstakingly taken rigorous actions to curb lawlessness.
“We can identify the dealers, agents and labourers. All our approaches are done sustainably so that the environment is protected and the future generation can benefit from the legacy.
“We have met with the agents who are numerous in number because there are reports that many of these people come from West African nations to mine the gold”, Ajilore said.
He noted that the State has written to the federal government to create a synergy and invoke the mining Act 2017, to foster better understanding between local, state and federal governments.
“We have gotten the approval from the Federal Government to enact this and the State of Osun Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has inaugurated the Committee which is called Mineral Resources Management Committee (MIREMCO),” he concluded.
BOLA BAMIGBOLA, Osogbo
