Tag: EFCC

• By Abdulsamad Anka

Since the new current leadership of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) assumed the driver’s seat at the foremost anti-graft agency, the commission appears to have got its groove back. For an agency that had been castigated in certain quarters and regarded as a toothless bulldog, the perception rating has suddenly soared.

Thanks to the current executive chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, an experienced crusader, who has grown within the organisation to understand its workings.

It is instructive to note that Olukoyede’s three focal areas —focus on the mandate of the EFCC, pursuit of transparency and accountability and building the image of Nigeria — have changed the narrative at the commission.

And to achieve the three-point agenda, the EFCC boss has harped on the need for collective responsibility, greater emphasis on preventive frameworks against graft and premium attention on transactional credits.

But in spite of its current pragmatic operations, many Nigerians who have become fixated with the belief that the EFCC function starts and ends with issues related to financial misappropriation by public officers are confused and asking questions about whether the commission is stepping beyond its bound on illegal mining activities.

It’s understandable but a quick look at the Act that established the commission has since cleared the doubts and affirmed that EFCC is on course in its crusade against illegal miners and working within its scope for the positive development of the country.

It is important to note that investigation by the EFCC revealed that most of the solid minerals were illegally mined by artisanal miners who do not have operating licenses.

Further investigation by the commission also revealed that some of the miners who have licenses to purchase or possess minerals, buy from illegal miners instead of legitimate miners as stipulated in their licences.

As the current administration is working hard to deepen its commitment to economic diversification, EFCC has become an indispensable body to block leakages. In the spirit of diversification, the mining sector that was hitherto left unattended to has become a gold mine. From Zamfara State, to Osun State, Ekiti to Kwara and other parts of Nigeria, where mining activities are currently going on, the federal government has now seen the need to beam its searchlight on the sector and make every stakeholder accountable.

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But the more the government and its agency work to open up the sector for economic buoyancy, the more illegal miners who have seen the sector as a place to make free money work hard to sabotage the effort. These economic saboteurs have consistently carried on with their illegal operations with total disregard to the laws guiding mining in Nigeria, not minding the constitutional provisions. Today, it’s becoming a thing of the past as the Federal Ministry of Solid minerals and Federal Ministry of Steel Development have formed a synergy with the EFCC to nip illegal mining activities in the bud.

Just last week, the operatives of the commission arrested 11 suspects for illegal mining activities in Kwara State. The Command also impounded eight truckloads of assorted minerals. The organisation is also working round the clock in Zamfara, Osun and other places where mining activities are going on to make sure both Nigerians and expatriates involved are checkmated and restricted.

Perhaps Nigerians need to be reminded of where we are coming from to appreciate the work of various agencies of government in the forefront of the fight against illegal mining in the country. The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development has full responsibility over mining regulations under the Federal Minerals and Mining Act of 1999. When former President Olusegun Obasanjo took office, he privatized the extractive industry because the public corporations in the sector did not have any redeeming value left.

Our mineral assets are huge and they can be found in several states across the country. More than 40 minerals — excluding oil and gas – have been documented by the ministry. They include gold, tantalite, coal, bitumen, silver, iron ore, barite and gypsum. Tantalite deposits are in Nassarawa, Kogi, Osun, Ekiti, Kwara, Cross Rivers and a few other states, and you are most likely to find the mineral alongside columbite. Tantalite is a dark brown mineral chemically similar to columbite and they have significant economic value.

Apart from being the largest exporter of columbite, tantalite and tin in the world before independence, Nigeria also had one of the best coking coals in the world. According to Ikenna Nwosu, an energy expert and public policy analyst, coking coal produced from Onyeama Mines in Enugu was used to generate energy that powered engines in factories, trains and so on. During colonial rule, expatriate miners used mechanized mining — mining in commercial quantity — but they left Nigeria during the civil war that lasted from 1967 – 1970.

Illegal mining began to gain prominence after independence in 1960. Mining rights belong to the federal government but it grants licences for exploration, mining and sale of minerals. But it was under former President Obasanjo that a bold reform initiative in the mining sector was introduced; Oby Ezekwesili was the minister at the time. It was essentially a strategic policy framework to regulate the mining industry. For example, the policy reform led to the creation of the Mine Police, a unit that was supposed to work with the Mines department of the ministry to fight illegal mining. Unfortunately, the level of success recorded is nothing to write home about, a scorecard that continues to harm the image of the Police Force.

In the absence of effective policing, illegal mining has continued unabated and no royalties are paid to the federal government. Irresponsible mining practice harms the environment and ecology. In addition, the environmentally unfriendly methods and materials used in mining put the health of everyone in the community in grave danger. The miners, working mostly in the northwest and southwest zones of the country at the behest of their masters, use diggers, shovels, hoes and axes to dig for minerals. Unlike in mechanised mining which involves mining and processing minerals to add value, illegal miners extract minerals, especially gold, in their rawest form and smuggle them out of the country to willing buyers without any interception by our security agencies.

Illegal and unsafe mining activities take place in remote villages where labour is cheap. Villagers are employed to dig for minerals but due to their crude methods, the mines sometimes collapse resulting in several deaths. The digging is wide and deep, forming craters on the land. When it rains, the trenches become “mining ponds” which is very dangerous because of the metallic residue from the mining operations – it is acidic and poisonous. Once mining is over, the trenches dug are abandoned. The Zamfara State story immediately comes to mind – acute lead poisoning caused by the processing of ore affected more than 3,500 children

Illegal mining activities not only harm the economy directly but also indirectly by disrupting the operations of legally registered mining companies that lawfully bring revenue to the government. Illegal miners often encroach upon legal mining sites, leading to conflicts and jeopardising the security of workers

Illegal mining has emerged as a pressing issue with significant implications for economic growth and development. Apart from the fact that illegal mining has adverse effects of the economy, including environmental degradation, social instability, governance challenges, and lost revenue, it sometimes leads to death of innocent citizens as recently witnessed in Bodija area of Ibadan, where scores of Nigerians met untimely death. Succinctly speaking, illegal mining hampers economic growth by undermining formal mining activities, reducing investor confidence, and limiting government revenue. Broadly speaking, it has detrimental effects on key sectors such as agriculture, tourism, and infrastructure. The environmental consequences, including deforestation, water pollution, and soil degradation, also pose long-term challenges for sustainable economic development.

Over the years, I have come to realise one fact; governance gaps and regulatory weaknesses are key drivers of illegal mining in Nigeria. With a strong agency like the EFCC in partnership with relevant ministries and agencies of government, I’m not in doubt that there would henceforth be adequate enforcement and eradication of corruption that would help the federal government maximize the gains from the sector.

When all these are done, rule of law would be upheld in its raw form, there would be effective resource management that would enhance sustainable development and the impact of the sector would be felt maximally on the economy.

• Anka, a mining engineer, writes from Gusau, Zamfara State.

By Osifisan Kehinde

Recently, there have been simulated hues on the activities of the nation’s foremost anti- corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Since the appointment of Olanipekun Olukoyede as chairman of the commission in October 2023, there is no doubt that the fight against corruption has taken a new vista. A new Sheriff is in town! The EFCC under Olukoyede has recorded unprecedented success in the recovery of looted funds and prosecution of suspected fraudsters, high and low alike. Never in the history of the commission has such a humongous amount of money in national and international currencies recovered from looters.

In fact, the EFCC added another chip to its bulging shoulders recently when a whole university, found to have been established with the proceeds of corruption, was permanently forfeited to the federal government! A whole university, forfeited on the basis of corruption? That’s unheard of!

EFCC is so dreaded now that even a former chief security officer of a state for eight years is unbelievably scared-stiff of going to court for mere arraignment by the EFCC. The EFCC is now seen by the corrupt even in their sleep! To sum it up: The fear of the EFCC is now the begging of wisdom.

Of course, one does not expect to throw a heavy punch without a response, especially when your opponents have a heavy purse and are highly placed and connected? The attacks are rolling in barely disguised.

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Never in the annals of the EFCC has the commission faced a barrage of simulated, sponsored and coordinated attacks, especially in the media, by people whose filthy toes have been marched and their hedonistic ego punctured by the EFCC.

What is actually EFCC’s calling? Established on April 10, 2003, the  functions of the EFCC include: investigation of all financial crimes including advance fee fraud, money laundering, counterfeiting, illegal fund transfers, futures market fraud, contract scam etc.; the coordination and enforcement of all economic and financial crimes laws; adoption of measures to identify, trace, freeze, confiscate or seize proceeds derived from terrorist activities and adoption of methods to eradicate the commission of economic and financial crimes.

The EFCC was also created to statutorily collaborate with government bodies both within and outside Nigeria to ensure the eradication of economic and financial crimes; and to also engage in education and enlightenment campaign against the evil of economic and financial crimes within and outside Nigeria.

It is true that one may not totally rule out some form of overzealousness by few operatives of the commission in carrying out their statutory functions, even in minutest cases; but that is why the laws are enacted and the courts created. Whoever is displeased with the activities of the commission should be bold enough to seek redress in the court of law instead of turning copious sponsored advertorials into articles to attack the EFCC.

There are, litany of cases where the federal government has been reprimanded and made to pay damages for human rights infringements, let alone the agency created by the federal government.

The commission has made unprecedented strides since the assumption of office of the new chairman less than one year ago. These strides must be supported by well-meaning people and the flame of the new EFCC must not be deemed.

So far, EFCC is reported to have secured 3,175 convictions and recovered N156,276,691,242.30 between May 29, 2023 and now . Foreign cash seizures are also as follows $43,835,214.24, £25,365.00, €186,947.10, ₹51,360.00, C$3,750.00, A$740.00, ¥74,754.00, R35,000.00, 42,390.00 UAE Dirhams, 247.00 Riyals and 21,580,867,631 Crypto Currency. These are mind-boggling figures that have kept the mouth wide open.

Blessed is the one who does not commit financial crimes, covet public funds, harbour proceeds of corruption or sits in the company of fraudsters.

For those who do not want water to be splashed on them, they should stay away from the river bank. A lot of noise is being and would continue to be made against EFCC but they will remain what they are: Noise!

The federal government, on its own, has demonstrated exemplary posture in supporting the renewed fight by EFCC against corruption. A minister in the Federal  Executive Council (FEC) has been excused and suspended from office pending investigation by the EFCC; commendably so. Other serving top government functionaries have not found sanctuary in the Tinubu administration. Therefore, people alleged or accused of corruption must be ready to voluntarily aid investigations, keep their dates in the court and clear their names or face the music.

For the EFCC, it is better to be feared, abused and detested by people facing corruption allegations than to be praised. The hope of victory over corruption will dim the moment the corrupt start to praise the EFCC.

As the saying goes: “A clean conscience fears no accusation”. At the end of the day, the question remains: Who is afraid of EFCC?

•Osifisan, a public affairs analyst based in Abeokuta sent this piece via osifisankehinde269@gmail.com