The Minister of Solid Mineral, Dele Alake, Tuesday, said powerful Nigerians are deeply involved in illegal mining of sold minerals. He added that they are the ones sponsoring banditry and terrorism in Nigeria.
Alake said this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Solid Minerals for the 2024 budget defence in Abuja.
He said a lot of banditry and terrorism are sponsored by illegal miners and that they are not people who pick gold on the ground but powerful individuals in the country.
He added that the majority of the illegal miners were not foreigners but foreigners could be seen as symptoms.
“Nigerians are those powerful people behind them, we are identifying them with both kynetic and non-kynetic means. We have encouraged those petty illegal miners to form cooperatives,” he said.
He assured that the ministry will deliver on its mandate if the required funding is made.
“We can return trillions to the coffers of this country as revenue if we are given such a budget as proposed,” he said.
Chairman of the committee, Hon. Gaza Gbefwi, said the solid minerals sector remained the last hope for the country to attain the level of diversity it required, adding that the funds appropriated to the sector in the 2024 budget were grossly inadequate.
