Africa
MRS Janet Adeyemi, an expert in mining has said that the formalisation of mining operations in Nigeria will help in combating banditry in the country.
Adeyemi stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.
She said that formalisation, which involves incorporating informal or illegal mining activities to comply with legal and regulatory frame works
was crucial to Nigeria’s quest to end banditry.
She noted that there was a link between the tussle for control of mining sites and banditry in the country.
“Banditry is traceable around mineral resources. so, if we disband the illegal miners and force them into forming cooperatives, it becomes easy.
“Getting them into cooperatives will make it easy for digitalisation where each person would be issued digitalised Identity Cards which the government can use for identification,” she said.
According to her, the approach will help the government to identify foreigners who take advantage of the porous borders to come into Nigeria for illegal mining activities.
Adeyemi, who is the President, Women in Mining(WIM), said that the formalisation would ensure that miners were accountable for their actions to avert incidences such as the Ibadan explosion and sanitise the sector.
She maintained that the formalisation would also help in improving mining procedures and reposition the sector in line with international best practices.
“The process will encourage professionalism and help Nigeria in improving its perception index in the mining sector in international markets, especially as government is determined to shore up the sector’s development with the global upsurge in energy transition,” she said.
She added that the move would also help government in tracing and tracking its royalties to boost revenue and facilitate more investment in public services and infrastructure development.
“It will also help mobilise illegal miners to join cooperatives and ensure that value is added to mineral resources for export purposes, especially in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM).
“The formalisation in theory is very good but the modus operandi is what will determine its success, government should make the process less cumbersome to encourage the miners,” she said.
Adeyemi commended government’s efforts towards finding lasting solutions to banditry through the establishment of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Securing Nigeria’s Natural Resources, aimed at creating a new security architecture .
She, however, advised that all critical stakeholders should be involved in the process to ensure its success and sustenance.
“Get the buy-in of all stakeholders – the state government, local government and traditional people in the mining communities as well as the miners themselves – let them know the importance of what the committee is doing for their safety.
“CSOs, NGOs and the communities should all be part of the structure of the security architecture in order to effectively tackle the menace of banditry in the country,” she said. (NAN)
23rd February, 2024.
C.E.
Tags: illegal miners Janet Adeyemi
