Niger suspends mining in 3 LGAs over banditry

Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, has suspended all mining activities in Shiroro, Munya and Rafi local government areas due to security challenges in the three LGAs.   The order came less than a week after bandits attacked a mining site in Ajata Aboki village in Shiroro LG and killed many soldiers, police and workers as […]

Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, has suspended all mining activities in Shiroro, Munya and Rafi local government areas due to security challenges in the three LGAs.

  The order came less than a week after bandits attacked a mining site in Ajata Aboki village in Shiroro LG and killed many soldiers, police and workers as well as four Chinese expatriates.

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 The Secretary to the State Government, Ahmed Ibrahim Matane, who announced this in a statement, said the suspension would remain until further notice.

 Residents in those areas had in recent times said that the mining sites attracted criminals with prospective threats to the security of life and property.

 The state government warned that any mining operator caught engaging in mining activities in the areas mentioned would face the full wrath of the law.

 “The state government has directed security agencies in the state to profile all mining sites in the affected local governments with a view to ascertaining their genuineness,” the statement read.

 The governor assured the people of the state that government would not scale down pressure on the bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers and other criminal elements until they were flushed out of the state.

 He urged the people of the state to be security-conscious and report all suspicious characters, movements or objects in their communities to security agents.