The Senate has revealed that some unnamed retired military generals are allegedly behind illegal mining activities in Nigeria.
This disclosure was made during a session in Abuja, where Senator Sampson Ekong, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals Development, presented his report to the Senate Committee on Appropriation.
Senator Adams Oshiomhole, representing Edo North, criticized the government’s approach to illegal mining, stating that it undermines efforts to boost the economy through solid minerals.
He pointed out that while illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta is tackled with force, similar measures are not applied to the mining sector.
Oshiomhole warned that the country’s economic growth is being stalled by these illegal operations, which are reportedly supported by powerful individuals.
He explained that gold is being extracted and smuggled out of the country with the aid of helicopters, making billions of dollars for those involved.
The senator called for the deployment of military forces, similar to the Joint Task Force used in the Niger Delta, to combat illegal mining and secure Nigeria’s mineral resources.
He also revealed past efforts to alert the federal government, including writing to former President Muhammadu Buhari, but noted that the issue persists.
The former Edo governor said,
“Whereas the federal government is ruthless with people who are doing illegal oil bunkering by deploying the Joint Military Task Force to deal with them, when it comes to illegal mining of solid minerals, the federal government changes. It’s like using different standards, and I am very angry about that.
“If we have to fight this menace, we need to deploy the Army even to kill anyone who is involved in illegal pumping of oil. We should also deploy JTFs, comprising the Army, Police, and Air Force, against them.
“The ongoing illegal mining across the country is being carried out by retired generals, and we know them.
“Yes, we know them. Nobody in Africa doesn’t know them. I wrote a letter to former president Muhammadu Buhari on the matter when he was in office.
“This is because a team that I sent to go and conduct the primary somewhere reported back to me about the challenge of conducting primary elections in Zamfara because of the illegal miners.
“The team told me that those illegal miner procure arms exactly the same way the military is doing in the South Sudan.
“They give them arms. They use choppers to come and cart away the gold, and they take them out of this country and make billions of U.S. dollars.
“Unfortunately, the federal government is not doing what it should be doing. I took this letter to the former president when I was the national chairman of the All Progressive Congress, and I said, Call the general to give you more briefing.
“In fact, what is happening or what is supposed to really happen in that part of the country was exactly what the general told me was going to happen.
“These guys have been weaponised by the illegal big men who deployed a secure territory. The weaponry was made to protect the Chinese and other foreigners, and that’s why they actually are going to carry out the mining.
“So, the retired military officers, army officers, are involved in it. The day we can’t tell the truth, this country cannot flourish. That is what is going on with the mining sub-sector. It is not that we don’t know where it is. We have a whole survey of where we can find them across the length and breadth of Nigeria.
“Even as we are talking now, they are still those illegal miners, and those guys are getting richer when they get poorer.
“Who can afford to buy the chopper, land in an illegal mining site, cart away gold, and immediately, they are on the way to the airport to take them out of the country? This is happening.
“My position is that we shouldn’t be lamenting. We should fix the problem. We should tell the executive, You must deploy exactly the same force that you deployed against illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta.
“That same force should be deployed to deal with criminals who have money. When I say criminal, it can be a retired general, it can be a retired permanent secretary, it can be a retired trade unionist, or a retired labour leader.”
