Nigeria’s Battle Against Illegal Mining: Can the nation finally reclaim its buried wealth?

Chinwe Odita, Assistant Political Editor

For decades, Nigeria has been celebrated as one of Africa’s resource-rich nations.

While crude oil has dominated the national conversation, beneath the country’s vast landscape lies another treasure chest—gold, lithium, tin, columbite, tantalite, gemstones, limestone, coal, lead-zinc, and several other strategic minerals.

Yet, despite this abundance, the overwhelming majority of Nigerians continue to grapple with poverty, unemployment, poor infrastructure, and limited economic opportunities.

This paradox raises an enduring question: How can a nation so richly endowed remain home to millions living in deprivation?

Part of the answer lies in the long and troubling history of illegal mining, weak regulation, corruption, and the systematic plundering of Nigeria’s mineral wealth by criminal citizens and foreigners alike.

It has been a long history of neglect.
Mining was once a major contributor to Nigeria’s economy before the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantities in the late 1950s.

During the colonial era and the early years after independence, tin mining flourished on the Jos Plateau, while coal-powered industries in Enugu.

Gold mining was active in parts of the North-West and North-Central regions.

The oil boom of the 1970s, however, shifted national attention almost entirely to petroleum. Investment in the mining sector dwindled.

Regulatory institutions weakened, geological surveys became outdated, and many mining communities were abandoned.

The vacuum created by government neglect became fertile ground for illegal operators.

The Rise of Illegal Mining began a long time ago.

Over the past three decades, illegal mining has evolved from small-scale artisanal activities into sophisticated criminal enterprises.

Across states such as Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna, Kebbi, Plateau, Nasarawa, Osun, Oyo, Kwara, Ebonyi, Taraba and parts of the Federal Capital Territory, illegal extraction of solid minerals has become widespread.

Many operations involve informal local miners seeking livelihoods in the absence of economic opportunities.

Others, according to security agencies and government officials, involve organised criminal networks with significant financial backing.

Successive administrations have alleged that some foreign nationals operate illegally in Nigeria’s mining sector, sometimes in collaboration with local partners, more often than not, Elites and people in governance) who provide logistical support, access to communities, or facilitate the movement of minerals.

Law enforcement agencies have periodically announced arrests of foreign nationals accused of illegal mining and violations of mining regulations.

However, while allegations of collusion involving politically connected individuals and influential figures have circulated for years, the extent of such involvement varies from case to case and requires evidence through investigation and due process. Broad generalisations risk obscuring the complex realities of the sector.

What is not in dispute is that weak and corrupt governance has allowed illegal mining to flourish.

The cost of a national tragedy equals illegal mining.
Illegal mining is not merely an economic crime. It has become a national security challenge.

The Federal Government estimates that Nigeria loses billions of naira annually through undeclared mineral production, tax evasion, royalty losses, and illicit exports.

These losses deprive governments at all levels of revenues that could fund schools, hospitals, roads, electricity, and water projects.

The environmental consequences are equally devastating.
Illegal miners often leave behind abandoned pits that become death traps.

Forests are destroyed, rivers are polluted with mercury and other toxic substances, and agricultural land is rendered unusable.

The tragic lead poisoning incident in Zamfara over a decade ago, which claimed the lives of hundreds of children and affected thousands more, remains one of the worst environmental health disasters linked to unsafe mining practices.

Mining communities frequently bear the greatest burden while receiving the least benefit.

They experience environmental degradation, insecurity, displacement, and poor public services, even as valuable minerals leave their lands.

Criminal Networks and National Security
In recent years, security experts have increasingly warned about the intersection between illegal mining and organised crime.

Revenue generated from illicit mining has been linked by authorities to wider criminal activities in some regions, including arms trafficking, banditry, and illegal cross-border trade.

The remote nature of many mining sites makes effective policing difficult, while porous borders facilitate the movement of unprocessed minerals to international markets.

These dynamics have transformed illegal mining from a regulatory challenge into a broader national security concern.

Renewed Government resolve came about in
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration which has repeatedly declared that illegal mining will no longer be tolerated.

Among the measures introduced are strengthened enforcement operations, increased collaboration among security agencies, tighter licensing procedures, and the establishment of the Mining Marshals—a specialised security unit tasked with protecting legitimate mining sites and combating illegal operations.

Government officials argue that these initiatives have already disrupted several illegal mining activities, led to arrests, and improved compliance within parts of the sector.

The administration has also emphasised formalising artisanal mining by encouraging cooperatives, improving licensing processes, and attracting responsible investors capable of developing Nigeria’s mineral resources transparently.

Officials maintain that the goal is not merely to punish offenders but to build a mining industry capable of contributing substantially to national development.

However, is this genuine reform or political theatre?

This is the question many Nigerians continue to ask.

The creation of specialised enforcement units and increased arrests signal a more assertive posture than in previous years.

Public statements by senior government officials suggest that illegal mining has become a priority within the broader agenda of economic diversification.

Yet scepticism persists.

Nigeria has witnessed numerous anti-corruption campaigns and enforcement drives over the years, many of which generated headlines but produced limited long-term institutional change.

Critics argue that meaningful success cannot be measured by arrests alone.

The real test lies in successful prosecutions, transparent licensing, consistent enforcement, recovery of stolen revenues, rehabilitation of mining communities, and the dismantling of the criminal networks that profit from illegal extraction.

Questions also remain about whether politically exposed individuals or powerful business interests implicated in wrongdoing—where evidence exists—will be investigated without fear or favour.

Selective justice would undermine public confidence in the government’s commitment.

If members of the ruling party are part of the criminals that are exploiting the land and colluding with foreigners to steal our common wealth, they must be prosecuted and made examples of.

Beyond enforcement, experts increasingly agree that security operations alone cannot solve the problem.

Many Nigerians engaged in informal mining do so because legitimate economic opportunities are scarce.

They also fall victim to foreign mercenaries who use them to extract the minerals, exploit and dehumanize them and at the end, cart away the mineral wealth that could have been used to make life better for them.

Without alternative livelihoods, access to legal mining licences, technical support, financing, and community development programmes, enforcement risks becoming cyclical rather than transformative.

Communities must also become stakeholders in mineral development. Their communities must be developed with part of the proceeds of the minerals found therein.

When local populations see tangible benefits—schools, healthcare, roads, employment, environmental protection—they become partners in protecting national assets rather than reluctant observers of exploitation.

Transparency in mineral production and exports is equally critical.
Digital tracking systems, stronger and zero- corrupt customs controls, better geological data, and improved coordination among regulatory agencies can reduce opportunities for illicit trade.

Nigeria’s vast mineral wealth is a national resource that represents an extraordinary opportunity to diversify the economy beyond oil.

At a time when global demand for critical minerals such as lithium continues to grow because of the energy transition, the country has a rare chance to become a significant player in global supply chains.

But opportunity can quickly become another chapter in Nigeria’s history of squandered potential if governance remains weak.

Ending illegal mining is therefore about far more than recovering stolen minerals.

It is about restoring the authority of the Nigerian state, protecting the environment, securing communities, generating public revenue, and ensuring that the nation’s natural wealth benefits its citizens rather than corrupt leaders and criminal networks.

Whether the current administration succeeds will ultimately be judged not by declarations or media headlines, but by measurable outcomes.

Nigerians will be watching to see whether illegal mining truly declines, whether powerful interests are held accountable where the evidence warrants, whether mining communities experience genuine development, and whether the country’s buried wealth finally translates into improved living standards for ordinary citizens.

The minerals beneath Nigeria’s soil belong to the nation for the benefit of its citizens.

The challenge before the government is not simply to stop their illegal extraction, but to ensure that they become instruments of national prosperity rather than enduring symbols of lost opportunity.

For a better society

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