Nigerians have been encouraged to support the newly established Mining Marshals – a security force tasked with safeguarding Mining sites across the country.
The Assistant Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps NSCDC who doubles as the Commandant of the Mining Marshals, Mr. Attah Onoja, made the call during an exclusive interview.
Mr. Onoja emphasized the Mining Marshals’ commitment of enforcing existing laws and working collaboratively with other law enforcement Agencies and stakeholders to secure Mining sites.
“Nigerians should see the Mining Marshals as a Nigerian project, not an individual project, not a project of the Minister of Solid Minerals but a Nigerian project to save the mining sector, because the mining sector needs to breathe, The Mining Marshals are a critical unit established by the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Dr. Abubakar Audi.
He also expressed readiness to deal with anybody undermines the Mining Regulations in the country.
“The Mining marshals will stop at nothing in ensuring full compliance to extant laws governing mining regulations in Nigeria and whoever is found wanting regardless of position, their affinity the law will take its course and its important Nigerian’s begin to know that.
“It’s a rare privilege to be on national such and we will have to account for this opportunity, so any body meeting us should know that we coming with t his mind set that we are coming in to safe the mining sector”.
The Commandant explained that, Mining Marshals were drawn from the Thirty-Six States and the Federal Capital Territory commands of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), with the primary responsibility of combating the illegal mining operations.
“From the commencement of operation the strength of Mining Marshal started 2,220 operatives cutting across the whole country in all the States, more operatives are coming in ,we are still on the phase of mobilising more men. All the State of the federation will be adequately taken care of in the terms of Mining marshals.”
Beginning
Speaking on the idea behind setting up of the Mining Marshals, ACC Onoja said “the Mining Marshals came up as a result of a pressing need of Nigeria as a nation to take adequate care of the mining sector and part of the core mandate of the Nigerian Civil and Defence Corps is protection of critical national assets and infrastructure. To this end there will be no agency that will be better positioned or poised to delivering such assignment or mandate other than NSCDC”.
He further said that the proactivness of the Commandant General of the NSCDC, Dr. Abubakar Audi,Mni in a bid to strengthen to further strengthen its role brought about the Mining Marshals in collaboration with the Ministry Of Solid Minerals Development
“Before now NSCD has been responsible for protecting national critical assets and infrastructure; to have a specialised unit that will meet a pressing demand, talking about deriving revenue from the mining sector, activities of illegal miners Nigeria, the Issues of insecurity and the relationship between illegal mining and threats within Nigerian environment.
“So came up with the idea of setting up the commandant general’s transport and Mining Marshals and on the 1st of March (2024). It was officially inaugurated by the honourable minister of interior, Olubumi tunji-Ojo that marked the occasion of civil defence day in Nigeria.
“The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Oladele Alake decided that what NSCDC was doing is in tandem with the seven-point agenda of the Ministry of Solid Minerals, the relationship or partnership between NSCDC and Solid Minerals is to achieve the task of illegal mining with the aid of Mining police that led to the official unveiling of this particular operation on the 21st of March,2024. The whole idea is to ensure that illegal mining is purged to its barest minimum.”
Strategies
Mr. Onoja said the Mining Marshals were using effective strategies to prevent illegal mining and mineral theft.
“The scope of our operation is principally anchored on ensuring full compliance to extant laws. Talking about Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act of 2007 and Mining regulation of 2007 and contained in this document are the relevant provisions that must be complied with by all intending investors in the sector or miners or companies or individuals who want to carry out one or two activities within the sector.
“The Ministry of Solid Minerals is the home of mining activities, whatever you do is regulated by the Ministry of Solid Minerals. Our duty is to ensure enforcement of these regulations that is already known to all miners.
“Where we have intelligence about illegal mining depending on the nature of the case, sometimes there are peculiar situations, we write letters of invitation to the companies and give them specific time and when invited, they are expected to cooperate with our investigative activities.
“By so doing we unearth their level of collusion and we liaise with Ministry of Solid Minerals where relevant as well as mining cadastre office and this has helped in cases we have handled including in cases we have charged to court.
“We don’t require anything aside maximum cooperation that will ensure full compliance to mining regulations and the whole essence of this is that we are able to contribute our own quota to ensuring that the dwindling revenue within the mining sector is improved.”
Collaboration & Cooperation
Speaking on how the Mining Marshals collaborate with other law enforcement agencies and stakeholders to achieve their goals, the commandant said synergy, intelligence sharing have been yielding fruits.
He also alluded to the maximum cooperation from mining communities.
“We have community leader’s cooperating with us; it all boils down to approach. Community leaders are stake holder’s insecurity, it’s their domain, and we educate them to achieve results.
He also said the Mining Marshals have deployed technology to navigate difficult terrains
“In the team we have drone pilots, there are some terrain that are not motorable, we have a case in view now, the advanced intelligence sent to that location made us realise that over 18 to 20km before the location is not motorable, you can only go there on bike, it took the aid of a drone pilot and his team to ensure that we got adequate mapping of the terrain to have a well informed operational decision to be carried out, the Mining Marshal is fully aware of the role and importance of technology in effective execution of this task and assignment.”
According to a report published by the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), Nigeria is rich in solid mineral deposits, including gold, limestone, coal, iron ore, and tantalite, among others. However, despite this abundance, the sector remains largely underdeveloped and underutilized.
Observers say that the creation of the Mining Marshals and the progressive reforms being undertaken by the Ministry of Solid Minerals will help Nigeria unlock the full economic benefits of its rich and diverse solid mineral resources.
von