Former Edo State Governor and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, has sounded the alarm, accusing some unnamed retired military generals of being responsible for the widespread illegal mining activities across the country.
Oshiomohle revealed this in Abuja yesterday when the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals Development, Senator Sampson Ekong, PDP, Akwa-Ibom South submitted his report before the Senate Committee on Appropriation, expressing the need for the country to diversify its economy.
Oshiomohle who is a member of the Appropriation Committee reacting to the report submitted by the committee chairman, stated that Nigeria can never achieve any feat in diversifying her economy if the illegal mining activities in the country are not curtailed.
He revealed that some unnamed retired military generals are solidly behind the activities, even though they are known, nothing has been done about it, giving them the room to continue.
The Senator urged President Tinubu’s government to go against them the same he had deployed troops of the Joint Task Force to check the activities of illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta.
Senator Oshiomhole revealed that the Generals have armed the illegal miners, who go about carrying the criminal activities of mining solid minerals belonging to the government, which includes gold. He further stated that they bring a chopper to cart away the mineral resources out of the country without any obstruction.
Part of his statement read, “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 the 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. 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, the challenge of conducting primary elections in Zamfara because of the illegal miners. The team told me that those illegal miners procure arms the same way the military is doing in 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. When I was the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress, I took this letter to the former president and said, call the generals to give you more briefing. What was happening or what was supposed to 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. The weaponry was made to protect the Chinese and other foreigners and that’s why they are going to carry out the mining. So, retired military officers, and 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.
“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.”
After Oshiomhole’s remarks, the Committee found it valid and reached a consensus with his points and urged various security agencies to rise to the occasion as the quickest route to progress for the people of Nigeria lies in pursuing diversification.
