By Farooq Abdullahi
Nigeria’s mining sector is fast growing, attracting global attention due to the enormous wealth buried in the country’s soil. Investors and businessmen are now concentrating on Nigeria’s solid minerals industry. Much of this positive response can be attributed to the efforts of the current Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Oladele Alake, who has implemented security measures and policies. If these measures are properly managed and sustained, Nigeria could ascend to the global stage as a mining powerhouse, with solid minerals joining oil as a major source of revenue for our nation.
As we know, many state governors with mineral resources feel a sense of entitlement when it comes to these resources. Typically, disagreements between federal and state governments on such issues are resolved amicably to avoid chaos. Some state governors like Benue, Zamfara, Niger, Kogi Taraba, among others have banned mining activities in their respective states while they mine for themselves, some use none state actor to intimidate and chase legal miners so that they can mine on other people’s sites.
Let’s take Osun as a case study, Segilola is the only mechanized gold miner that we have in Nigeria at the moment and the pride of the nation in mining sector at international mining forum. Osun state governor woke up one day to stop them from working just because they asked for kangaroo fees that the company refused, before the federal government intervened. Kogi state government will claim he has banned mining activities in the state but is mining on legal tittle holder’s mining site.
However, the Nassarawa State governor has to be the most greedy and self-serving person, endangering not only local and foreign investments but also the reputation of Nigeria’s solid minerals sector. I will shed more light on this troubling development.
The governor pretends to be good and supportive to the Director General of IMCO and the Minister of Solid Minerals, but behind the scenes, he harasses and intimidates legitimate license holders. He uses state resources to block access to mining sites, urges the DG of IMCO to step on people’s evaluation report so as to withhold approvals for Mining Leases by the minister, and even suggests revoking licenses. These actions break federal rules for the mining sector and scare off investors, harming confidence in Nigeria’s mining sector.
It is well known that the mining sector can often be a mafia sector. Victims of this governor’s tactics who lack strong backing find themselves at his mercy. A recent incident on December 24, 2024, shows the extent of the governor’s malfeasance. On that day, his commissioner of environment announced the revocation of a mining license belonging to a company named Timadez, stopping them from working on their site. This act has led many to question whether a governor even possesses the authority to revoke legitimate mining licenses. To make matters worse, the governor openly admitted to transferring the revoked license to a Chinese company. This raises serious concerns: could such an act happen in China?
The Chinese company tried to bribe community leaders to get their consent, but the community rejected them repeatedly. They even offered as much as ₦2,500,000,000, yet the leaders still refused. This makes one wonder why the governor has left his core mandate to become a title revoker and land grabber. Could it be that he took the bribes the community turned down, or was even given more?
Another glaring fact to everyone following the developments in the sector is that the governor is targeting all the choicest lands with existing titles. He wants these lands handed over to the Chinese and aims to position himself as a godfather in the mining sector even after leaving office. This is why he has been causing chaos in the state, making the ministry look bad in the eyes of investors.
Given these developments, I urge the federal government to take swift and decisive action to clip this governor’s wing. His greed, selfishness, and disregard for due process threaten to drive away current and prospective investors in the mining sector.
What people should know is that the sacked Commissioner of Environment and the removed Commissioner of Police are not the true masterminds behind these fraudulent license revocations. The real culprit is the Commander in Greed, the governor himself, and he must be held accountable for his actions.
The Ministry of Solid Minerals and the federal government must act quickly to prevent more harm to Nigeria’s economic interests and image. They should put all the necessary measures and sucour in place to protect indigenous investors. The solid minerals sector has the power to change Nigeria’s economy, and one should not be allowed to ruin this opportunity. Action must be taken immediately.
The most dangerous precedent being set by the DG of IMCO is the fact that his loyalty has shifted from the minister to the Nassarawa state governor, also, there’s no where in the history of the sector that the DG would write to a state governor to authenticate consent letter, until this current DG stooped so low to be writing to Nassarawa state governor and the member of the state assembly to confirm if a consent letter is genuine or not.
The minister of solid mineral needs to swift into action and bring back sanity to the sector, before the state governors, most especially Nassarawa state governor turn the mining sector into confusionist sector.
