By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
Criminal groups are allegedly controlling artisanal mining sites in parts of northern Nigeria, imposing levies on miners and residents while questions linger over possible links between some licensed miners and armed groups, a foreign trade expert has alleged, as stakeholders warn that Nigeria loses an estimated N13.7 trillion annually to illicit mining and illegal trade in solid minerals.
The warning was raised by stakeholders in separate interviews, who called for stronger enforcement, regulation and monitoring of the mining sector.
They explained that the continued exploitation and movement of valuable minerals outside the regulatory framework was depriving the government of revenue and exposing mining communities to environmental, security and economic risks, speaking against the backdrop of concerns over the implementation and enforcement of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2007, which prohibits the exploration and exploitation of mineral resources without lawful authority, valid licences or appropriate leases.
Despite the existing legal framework, the stakeholders noted that illegal mining and the movement of minerals, including gold, gemstones, tantalum, lithium and kaolin, continued to pose challenges to effective regulation and revenue collection, identifying weak enforcement, inadequate monitoring and alleged collusion among some actors as factors sustaining the illicit trade.
A foreign trade expert, Idris Faro, urged the Federal Government to deal decisively with non-state actors allegedly usurping the powers of the state and controlling mining activities in parts of the country, insisting that government needed to combine the prosecution of criminal elements with measures to address the root causes of insecurity around mining sites.
He, however, argued that the practice should more accurately be described as artisanal mining rather than illegal mining, since those directly involved in the activity simply lack mining licences or leases.
“I would not call it illegal mining despite the fact that the people directly involved in the actual mining activity do not have mining licence or lease. I prefer to call it artisanal mining,” he said.
Faro maintained that the focus should be on formalising artisanal mining, granting operators legal rights, and providing them with modern technology and access to credit.
“We need mining to contribute to economic growth and wealth creation. It is an act of production. What we need to do is to grant them the legal rights to carry on mining and assist them with modern technology in addition to accessing credit facilities from financial institutions,” he said.
He further alleged that mining activities in some northern communities had been linked to insecurity, with criminal groups controlling some mining sites and imposing levies on miners and residents, while also raising concerns over possible relationships between some licensed miners and armed groups operating around mining sites.
“I am seriously concerned about their activities. For those who have mining licence, what is their connection with the armed bandits around their mines? Is there a link between them and these criminals? The authorities have to look into it,” he said.
Faro called on the Federal and state governments to take control of artisanal mining sites, dismantle criminal structures around them and confiscate illegal weapons in the possession of armed groups controlling mining areas.
He also advocated the auditing, licensing, retraining and equipping of artisanal miners to improve productivity and ensure that revenue from the sector accrues to government, urging security agencies, including the Nigeria Customs Service, to prioritise monitoring the movement of solid minerals.
He further called for a review of the constitutional position on mining and urged traditional rulers to report illegal activities in their communities and forests to the appropriate authorities, citing a figure attributed to the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), which estimated the N13.7 trillion annual loss to illegal mining.
The Executive Director of the Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), Faith Nwadishi, explained that illegal mining was not only affecting government revenue but also having environmental, health and economic consequences.
“Nigeria loses a lot of revenue to these activities,” she said.
Nwadishi urged the government to identify and prosecute those financing illicit mining operations, stressing that greater attention should be paid to the companies and individuals benefiting from the activities.
“Countries like Ghana and Canada have been able to use mining to build their economy. This is something we can also do. We should be able to pay attention to what the sponsors and miners are doing, and do proper regulation and monitoring so we can get the benefits,” she said.
She called for the identification of financiers and companies involved in the mining value chain, noting that beneficial ownership mechanisms could assist authorities in tracing those funding mining operations.
“Nigeria carries the social and environmental cross while someone else takes the environmental and economic benefits, and these are the financiers,” she said.
While acknowledging government efforts to formalise the sector, Nwadishi maintained that more needed to be done in monitoring, environmental impact assessments and enforcement of the Mining Act, recommending the formalisation and regulation of artisanal miners rather than their criminalisation, improved traceability of solid minerals, proper environmental impact assessments, greater community participation, stronger Customs monitoring and the deployment of technology to track mineral movement.
She further called for those behind illegal mining operations to be brought to justice.
The Founder and Executive Director of Ziva Community Initiative (ZCI), Emily Offodile, said the proliferation of illegal operators was contributing significantly to revenue losses in the sector, explaining that royalties often went unpaid when artisanal miners sold to informal buyers.
“When those artisanal miners mine and sell to these people, who is now paying royalties? There’s no royalty that is being paid. So it all boils down to losses,” she said.
Offodile explained that even where royalties were eventually collected, the revenue might not accrue to the state where the mineral was extracted, since minerals could be detected later in the supply or export chain. She called for a comprehensive review of the regulatory framework and stronger institutional capacity to monitor the sector.
“We have to look at these issues holistically because even when we’re trying to review the Mineral Mining Act 2007, we have still not put this one to efficiency. Times have changed. A lot of things are happening,” she said.
She questioned the effectiveness of regulatory agencies responsible for overseeing mining activities, arguing that weaknesses in regulation had created significant gaps, and urged the government to strengthen regulation and coordination among agencies responsible for the sector, describing mining as a multisectoral activity whose weaknesses affect the country’s broader economic interests.
“The sovereign wealth of the country is being lost because of these inadequacies and because mining is multisectoral,” she said.
