The federal government through the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development has expressed willingness to cooperate and collaborate with the State governments to eliminate illegal mining activities in the country.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Mrs. Mary Ogbe, disclosed this during the courtesy visit by the Governor of Taraba State, Dr. Agbu Kefas to the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.
The Permanent Secretary, represented by the Director, Human Resource Department, Suleiman Kabir, stated that there was a pressing need for collaboration between the ministry and Taraba state to curtail incidences of illegal mining in the state.
He lamented that the activities of illegal minning which has become an endemic economic crime causing hemorrhage to government’s revenue beside its attendant security problems and festering community clashes in the states endowed with mineral resources.
To this end, Ogbe posited that the ministry cannot combat the menace of illegal mining alone and therefore sought robust dialogue between the ministry and Taraba State Government.
She aid this is needed to enhance and sustain its effort to eliminate the activities of illegal miners within the ambit of the law.
While lauding the actions of the State hovernment towards preventing breakdown of law and order resulting from illegal mining, Ogbe commended the proactive security measures already taken, stressing that the governor should lend necessary assistance to legal miners in the state to encourage investor’s confidence.
Responding, the Governor of Taraba state condemned the activities of illegal miners in the state whose.
He noted that the stock in trade of illegal miners is to create communal clashes and flagrant environmental degradation in their quest for illegal exploration of mineral resources in the state.
To curb and eliminate illegal mining activities, Kefas urged the ministry to open a corridor of communication and effective collaboration with Taraba state government that will process and authenticate licenses issued by the ministry to investors as well as other documentations for exploration of mineral resources.
This measure, he stated, would create an enabling environment for attracting genuine investors into the state to achieve the much desired socio-economic transformation of the country.