Nigeria loses 100 kilogrammes of gold every day to illegal gold mining. So says Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi. According to him, part of the reason for this is that members of the security agencies don’t know how a lot of the solid minerals look like, so they would have difficulty recognizing them.
It is time Nigeria tightens the noose on those who illegally spirit our raw materials out of the country. It is not just solid minerals that is affected, even crude oil is, as oil bunkering is also big business. I would suggest the use of drones and helicopters in areas with oil/mineral deposits to monitor activities there and apprehend smugglers.
If our regular armed forces are to busy with other pressing national security issues, then a special paramilitary force should be created to patrol our mining zones. That will also create jobs in the country.
The state government is backing the illegal miners
It will be difficult to stop