Mining Marshals At One: Alake Vows Fiercer Battle Against Illegal Mining

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake has declared that there will be no hiding place for illegal miners in the country as efforts to strengthen operations of the mining marshals and ensure nationwide coverage are in the offing. 

Addressing a press conference to mark the one year anniversary of the corps on Friday, the Minister emphasized that the establishment of the Mining Marshals last year has significantly disrupted unauthorized mining activities and restored investor confidence in the sector.

“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,” Alake stated.

According to him, “the mining marshals held direct engagements across 10 states of 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

He thanked President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly 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 will be recalled that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) recently approved N2.5bn for the deployment of satellite technology to enhance the security architecture of the mining sector which will consequently aid the operations of the mining marshals.

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 to sanitise the sector.

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, establishing considerable deterrence among illegal miners and contributed to substantial increase in revenue, generated from the sector.

The minister also commended the Commandant of the Mining Marshals, ACC John Attah Onoja, 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, noting that the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) approved by the minister has contributed immensely to the successes recorded over the past 365 days.

He 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 sanitizing the mining sector.