The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has reaffirmed its commitment to dismantling illegal mining cartels and disrupting illicit financing linked to banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism in the country.
John Attah Onoja, the Commander of the Mining Marshals, made this commitment in Abuja while receiving members of the Defence Correspondents Association of Nigeria (DECAN), led by its President, Comrade Odita Sunday, during a courtesy visit.
Commander Onoja emphasised that the Mining Marshals would remain steadfast in enforcing mining laws and restoring order in a sector whose activities have increasingly raised security concerns.
He stated that illegal mining poses not only an economic and environmental threat but also serves as a potential source of funding for criminal and terrorist groups.
“It is not necessarily about picking up weapons and fighting bandits or kidnappers. We must ask: how do the people in those forests feed? How do they get money?”
He added that disrupting the illicit flow of funds to criminal groups would weaken their operational capacity and make banditry and terrorism less attractive.
“We want to make criminality less lucrative. You can only make it less lucrative if the illicit flow of finances to terrorist groups is disrupted,” he said.
He disclosed that the Mining Marshals had adopted intelligence-led operations involving identification, arrest, investigation and prosecution of offenders to ensure that perpetrators were brought to justice.
Onojah said the Corps would continue to maintain its presence across mining communities under its deterrence strategy, despite limitations in manpower and logistics.
He urged the media, particularly Defence Correspondents, to support the fight through accurate, responsible and sustained reporting on illegal mining and its security implications.
According to him,“I do not take your role for granted. The sanitised mining sector of our dream will be achieved through collaboration, and the major stakeholder in that collaboration is the media.”
The commander also called on journalists to assess the performances of the Mining Marshals alongside the logistics available to the operation, staying that inadequate resources remained a major constraint.
He, however, identified alleged collusion between some compromised officials and illegal miners as a major challenge threatening efforts to sanitise the sector.
“The major bottleneck we face today is not necessarily the number of illegal miners out there, but the number of compromised officials of institutions and agencies that are supposed to be partners in the fight against illegal mining,” he said.
Commander Onoja alleged that some compromised officials had resorted to blackmail and petitions against Mining Marshals in attempts to frustrate their operations.
According to him, “that is, corruption fighting back the fight against illegal mining must be genuine, deliberate and enforced without bias or selectivity.
Speaking earlier, Comrade Odita said DECAN recognised the critical security and economic implications of illegal mining and commended the Federal Government and NSCDC for establishing the Mining Marshals Corps.
He said illegal mining threatened the environment, national revenue and increasingly national security, making effective collaboration among security agencies, the media and other stakeholders imperative.
Comrade Odita declared that the Defence correspondents remained committed to professional journalism, accuracy, fairness and the national interest in reporting security operations.
According to him, “as Defence correspondents, we understand that effective security operations require not only the commitment of security agencies but also responsible and accurate public communication”
He assured the Mining Marshals that DECAN would give appropriate attention to their activities while ensuring that reports did not compromise operational security or personnel safety.
Odita also urged the command to maintain open communication channels with accredited defence correspondents to prevent misinformation, speculation and inaccurate reports on security operations.
He said timely access to verified information was critical to promoting public understanding of the dangers posed by illegal mining and the measures being taken to combat it.
He further called for stronger professional engagement between DECAN and the Mining Marshals through regular briefings, field visits and other activities aimed at improving mutual understanding.
Odita stressed that the fight against illegal mining was a collective responsibility involving security agencies, government institutions, the media, traditional authorities, mining communities and other stakeholders.
He said the media would continue to inform, educate and hold institutions accountable while respecting legitimate national security requirements.
The Mining Marshals was launched on March 21, 2024, as a specialised NSCDC operation to combat illegal mining and protect Nigeria’s critical mineral resources.