- Red Chamber decries use of legal processes to stifle probe
The Federal Government yesterday kicked against a Bill seeking to establish Mines’ Rangers.
It urged the Senate to adopt the already created Special Mines Surveillance Task Force (SMSTF) to curb illegal mining in the country.
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr, Dele Alake; his counterpart in the Ministry of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), spoke during a public hearing on a Bill seeking to establish the “Nigeria Mine Rangers Service” organised by the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals in Abuja.
The Senate also decried a situation where some illegal miners hid behind spurious legal processes by engaging lawyers to threaten the Red Chamber with legal suits, thus stifling the statutory investigations.
The Federal Government, through the ministries of Interior and Solid Minerals Development, recently set up the SMSTF to combat illegal mining and ensure timely payment of royalties and taxes.
The SMSTF comprises men of the Nigerian Army, the police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Department of State Services (DSS), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) with mines officers leading operations at the state level.
During the public hearing, Alake, who was represented by Umar Bala of the Mining Inspectorate Division of the ministry, warned of dire consequences that would follow the government’s failure to collaborate and share intelligence in combatting illegal mining.
On the creation of the SMSTF, Bala said: “The multifaceted nature of illegal mining activities makes it challenging for a single security agency to combat them effectively, consequently making it imperative for the previous administration to establish a Special Mines Surveillance Task Force, which comprises all the security agencies with specific statutory mandates in the various aspects of illegal mining to combat all aspects of the menace.
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“With the preceding, it would be safe to conclude that the multifaceted nature of illegal mining would challenge the capacity of the proposed Mines Rangers or any other security agency working in isolation.
“The Special Mine Surveillance Task Force comprises multiple security agencies whose sting operations would be coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) under the overarching of the Honourable Minister of Solid Minerals Development, as detailed in the Special Mines Surveillance Task Force (SMSTF) Standard Operational Procedure (SOP), offers the best options as an integrated approach to combating illegal mining activities.
“If government does not collaborate and share intelligence as an integrated approach, effectively combatting illegal mining could be elusive.
“The deployment of technology (non-kinetic approach), such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or drones, specifically targeted to the mining sector, can complement the current kinetic approach in surveillance by real-time gathering of information in digital format.
“I, therefore, call on this esteemed Committee to consider and adopt the Special Mines Surveillance Task Force and its Standard Operational Procedure (SOP), as a better alternative to the Nigeria Mines Rangers Service (NMRS).”
Represented by an Assistant Director in the ministry, Mrs. Jeraldine Okafor, Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said there was no need to duplicate SMSTF already created to curb illegal mining.
The minister noted that all the country needed was to equip and empower the task force, which was drawn from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), to effectively carry out the assignment.
“The NSCDC and other organs like the miners’ special task and the police, are trained to combat illegal miners.
“The ministry is of the position that civil defence is part of the existing task force and there is no need to duplicate existing agencies. All we need to do is to adequately equip them for their work,” Mrs. Okafor said.
Justice Minister Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who was also represented by the Director of Legal Drafting in the Ministry, Mr. Patrick Eta Oyon, also opposed the creation of the proposed Nigeria Mines Rangers Service.
Fagbemi said the agency would amount to duplication of functions and called for the amendment of the NSCDC Act to widen the duties of the NSCDC to include those of the proposed agency.
But the Commandant General of National Unity and Peace Corps (NUPEC), Dr. Chinedu Nneji, and a representative of the Nigeria Customs Service, Timi Imodi, supported the creation of the Nigeria Mines Rangers.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee, Ekong Sampson, announced that the investigative work of the panel was being hampered by dubious illegal miners who he said hid behind legal processes to evade their inquiries.
Sampson said: “The Nigerian mining industry has, over the years, regrettably, been confronted with grave problems of illegal mining and insecurity. These form some of the sector’s major drawbacks.
“Nigeria continues to bleed heavily from the activities of some conscienceless mining operators who decapitate our environment, so to say, sabotage our economy and murder, maim and displace our citizens through sponsored banditry.
“Sadly enough, even in the face of these challenges, some operators, when invited by the National Assembly further to our constitutional oversight functions, get lawyers to write us long letters in an attempt to fetter our powers.
“However, the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, and indeed the National Assembly, remain committed to exploring necessary trajectories to drive reform in the sector, in our country so hugely blessed with natural resources but challenged by the contradictions of abundance.”