The Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, on behalf of the Federal Government, has issued a warning to international companies that support banditry in order to carry out unlawful mining in the nation.
According to The Punch, the ministry’s head of press and public relations, Alaba Balogun, said this in a statement on Friday.
When a team from the Nigeria-China Chamber of Mines, led by its National President, Dr. Olugbenga Ajala, paid him a courtesy visit at his office at the Ministry’s Abuja headquarters, the Minister, Dr. Oladele Alake, gave the warning.
“The government will come down hard on these dishonest foreign operators sponsoring banditry to perpetrate illegal mining, let me use this medium to appeal through you to tell those sponsors to desist or face the full wrath of the law,” he said.
According to Alake, the Ministry is committed to forming a multi-agency task force to put an end to the operations of illegal miners and those who assist them.
He emphasized once more that the government has given illegal miners 30 days to become legitimate so they can continue in their line of work.
He claimed that doing so would help “to streamline and structure the Small-Scale Artisanal Miners for maximum yield to the Federal Government.”
