Powerful Nigerians are responsible for illegal mining, banditry and t£rrorism — Alake

Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has said that powerful Nigerians behind illegal mining are those sponsoring banditry and kidn@ppings in the country.

Alake said this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Solid Minerals for the 2024 budget defence in Abuja on Tuesday, December 12.

According to him, “One pernicious discovery that we have made is that a lot of these banditry, t£rrorism, and insecurity that we associate with this sector are actually sponsored by illegal miners.

These are not your artisanal miners. They are not the people who pick gold on the ground. These are heavy and powerful individuals in our country. And they are Nigerians. They are not foreigners.

Yes, you can see foreigners as symptoms, but they are not the disease. Nigerians are the powers behind those foreigners that you see on the streets. We are identifying them and employing various strategies, both kinetic and non-kinetic.”