Develop Plan To Secure Mining Sites – FG

The Federal Government has given all security agencies a two-week deadline to develop a robust plan to ensure the safety of all mining sites in the country.

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Oladele Alake gave the ultimatum at a news conference after meeting with members of the inter-ministerial committee on securing Nigeria’s natural resources and security agencies in Abuja.

Dr. Alake who is also the chairman of the inter-ministerial committee said the meeting decided to incorporate all security outfits in the country for effective deliberations and planning.

According to him, the security agencies comprising service chiefs and other security outfits will form a sub-committee to develop a work plan and execution method within two weeks.

“The Inter-ministerial committee set up by the president to address issues surrounding the security of natural resources has just met and we have fashioned out strategies to completely curb this menace that is making Nigeria bleed from all sides. After our last meeting, the decision was to expand it to include the service chiefs or their representatives” the minister added.

“And they are the technical experts to give us bits of advice and solutions on how to achieve this objective. Following up on the first meeting that we had amongst the ministers, it was decided that we should expand the scope to incorporate critical security agencies. That’s why the security agencies are here or represented. The Airforce, the Office Of The National Security Adviser, the Inspector General of the Police, the Commandant General of the NSCDC, and the forest guards. All the critical stakeholders. Security stakeholders that are relevant to this issue of security natural resources are present here.

“We have deliberated exhaustively and it was decided that the security agencies that constitute the experts in this particular venture should meet and give us a work plan of execution for that mandate to secure natural resources, the mineral sites, the forest, and the marine economy. And everyone agreed here that we will meet in two weeks to deliberate on the work plan submitted by the security agency”.

He also explained the need for creation of a new security outfit solely to secure the nation’s natural resources, adding that “the work plan simply includes the formation of whatever outfits we propose and the modalities, execution, funding, and all details associated with the security outfits that we propose to create” he stressed.

On the Ibadan explosion incident, the minister noted that the government has begun forensic examination on fragments of documents obtained from the site before necessary action will be taken.

“Again, I want to use this opportunity to let you know that what happened in Ibadan, even though we are expecting the final forensic analysis report from the various security agencies and intelligence agencies, the technical experts, and even some from the mines inspectorate division of the Ministry of Solid Minerals. So we have a summit of intelligence agencies working and unraveling. And don’t forget that we found fragments of documents, many items constituting evidence were taken, and obtained from the site. And some of these things must be scientifically analysed before an authentic report is given,” the minister stated.

The committee, set up by President Tinubu at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting on January 17 was mandated to deliberate on modalities in achieving its mandate of producing a blueprint for securing the country’s natural resources and curb the menace of illegal mining.

The meeting was well attended by the Ministers of Environment, Balarabe Abass Lawal, Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, Defence, Abubakar Badaru, Interior, Tunji Olubunmi-O…