With the current economic downturn which leaves many sectors of the economy yearning for attention, stakeholders cannot afford to continue to look away while illegal miners fleece the country.
Aside from oil revenues, accruals from mining can be a veritable lifeblood for the nation if properly harnessed.
However, the reverse is the case; the figures Nigeria loses to the activities of illegal miners are startling.
Against the aforementioned, the Nigerian Youth Union(NYU), an umbrella body of young people all over Nigeria, is calling on the Federal Government to expedite action towards the setting of a special police unit which will be called the Mining Police Force to combat illegal mining.
The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, recently said that intelligence reports indicated that some illegal miners are directly responsible for the upsurge of banditry in several parts of Nigeria.
The minister had hinted at the creation of Mines Police.
More so, recently, the Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Mohamed Tunis, disclosed that Nigeria loses 91 percent of its revenue from the mining sector to illegal miners.
Tunis said a whopping 80 percent of mining in the country’s North-West region is conducted illegally, costing the nation 91 percent of potential mining revenue.
It is apposite at this moment that the nation grapples with an economic quagmire, all loopholes must be plugged and appropriate sanctions applied against illegal miners and their sponsors.
The creation of such Mining Police, which will be domiciled in the Ministry of Solid Minerals, will no doubt enable the government to effectively man and protect the mining sites, gather credible intelligence, prosecute offenders, and in the multiplier effect, rake inadequate resources for the economy.
Illegal mining and nonpayment of royalties must be contained as the youths are ready to rise against this brazen economic sabotage.