The Federal Government yesterday insisted on capital punishment to check illegal gold mining.
Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Dr Uchechukwu Ogah, spoke when he appeared before the Senate Committee Solid Minerals, Mines, Steel Development and Metallurgy to defend the ministry’s 2022 budget estimates.
The minister told the lawmakers that N7.3billion is the ministry’s projected internally generated revenue (IGR) for the 2022 fiscal year.
The minister said the projected N7.3billion in 2022 will be N1.1billion higher than the N6.2billion it generated and remitted for 2021.
According to the minister, N23.4billion has been earmarked for the ministry and its agencies in the 2022 fiscal year.
Out of the amount, N10.3billion is for personnel cost, N1.7 billion for overhead and N11.4 billion for capital projects.
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The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa South), however, challenged the Minister on the projected revenue and the menace of illegal mining in the country.
A member of the committee, Senator Francis Fadaunsi (Osun East), told the minister that the N7.3billion revenue projections were not impressive against the backdrop of illegal mining happening in the sector with reckless abandonment.
“Your ministry needs to rise up to the challenge of tackling the menace of illegal mining which is robbing the country nothing less than N100billion on yearly basis,” he said.
Other members of the committee also urged the minister to rise to the challenge of insecurity and economic sabotage in the sector.
Ogah said: “Required potent laws are needed to confront the menace of illegal mining in the sector in form of capital punishment against offenders as earlier proposed before this Committee a few weeks back.
“We are already collaborating with the office of the Minister of Justice for a bill to that effect.”
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