Stop illegal mining to end banditry

Banditry has been the worst criminality bedeviling states in the North West and North Central regions of Nigeria. Yet, not many of those with the mandate to combat the bandits or the authority to interface with the security hierarchy are aware of the relationship between banditry and illegal mining. Niger and Zamfara are among the […]

Banditry has been the worst criminality bedeviling states in the North West and North Central regions of Nigeria. Yet, not many of those with the mandate to combat the bandits or the authority to interface with the security hierarchy are aware of the relationship between banditry and illegal mining.

Niger and Zamfara are among the few states in the North West and North Central regions endowed with huge mineral deposits, which among others include talc, gold, ball clays, silica, sand, marble, copper, iron, feldspar, lead, kaolin, casserole, columbine, mica, quartzite, and limestone. For years, several communities in the two states have engaged in local mining as their second source of livelihood, after farming. Every household in these communities is actively engaged in one form of mining or the other.

These local miners, who hardly serve as agents of the major gold dealers, take their gold and other minerals to Lagos, Port-Harcourt and sometimes to countries like Ghana and Benin Republic for sale to major dealers. Sometimes too, dealers visit the two states to buy gold and other minerals directly from the local miners.

According to a recent investigative report by the Daily Trust, local mining continued for a long time in these two states without any security implications. While criminals in that period engaged in kidnapping and cattle rustling, the locals concerned themselves with farming and mining until envy among the miners led them to start killing one another. For instance, when a miner gets expensive gold, his colleagues connive to kill him in order to take away the gold. This rival killing among the miners was the starting point of banditry in this part of the country.

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Whenever bandits asked for ransom from those whom they rustled their cattle or kidnapped their relations, relatives of their victims always requested to be given some days to enable them to sell their gold to pay. Thereafter, bandits got to know that most of those who promptly paid ransom on behalf of their abducted family members or relations were from the gold mining families. Gradually, the bandits started using informants among the locals to know who had gold or any expensive mineral in the communities, so that the person’s relations would be their target for abduction.

Soon, the bandits got attracted to mining after realising that a lot of money was being made from it. Today, most of the mining sites in the two states of Zamfara and Niger are owned or controlled by bandits’ leaders. One of the notorious bandit leaders, Kachalla Halilu, who allegedly got gold worth N150 million in Kanye village, in Zamfara State, is now believed to focus more on mining than banditry. Dozens of local miners are currently said to be working for him at various mining sites across the state.

Speaking to investigative reporters, residents of some mining communities alleged that the bandit leaders, Bello Turji and Ado Alleiro, allegedly own mining sites in Maru, Bukkuyyum, Maradun and Tsafe LGAs of Zamfara State. Clarifying the relationship between mining and banditry, the residents explained that while abductions and attacks on villages have continued unabated, they never heard of any mining site being attacked.

In spite of the incessant terrorist attacks on communities in Niger State, illegal mining activities also continue undisturbed in minerals-endowed LGAs of Shiroro, Munya, Rafi, Paikoro, Mariga, Mashegu and Kontagora – without suffering an attack or its threat. The only attack on a mining site was that of June 29, 2022, in Ajata-Aboki, Gurmana ward of Shiroro LGA, during which four Chinese nationals were kidnapped, and no fewer than 43 lives were reportedly lost. The attack was attributed to an alleged breach of agreement by the company’s managers.

It is obvious that there is a strong link between mining and banditry. While we commend the Zamfara State governor, Dauda Lawal, for signing in January this year an Executive Order prohibiting traditional rulers from issuing consent letters for mining across the state, the decision also by Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago on September 25, 2023, to profile miners across the state is commendable.

However, government is taking a serious risk by its current neglect of illegal mining activities in parts of the country, which if not deliberately tackled, portends grave danger for the future of the country. As miners are exposed to huge proceeds from their illegal activities, they could advance, if left unchecked, into buying sophisticated and hi-tech machines that would further entrench them deeper in their criminal mining activities. Besides, many conflicts in Africa are linked to illegal mining as witnessed in Sierra Leone, DR Congo, and Mali. In Nigeria, the cost of crude oil theft has continued to impact negatively, yet heavily on the nation’s economy and security.

Daily Trust calls on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take deliberate decisions and definitive measures to halt illegal mining in order to end banditry and kidnapping.