The Commander of the Mining Marshals, John Onoja Attah, has said Nigeria’s increasingly complex security environment requires a new phase of structured collaboration among security institutions, warning that the scale and speed of evolving threats have exceeded the capacity of any single agency to manage alone.
Speaking at the 2025 RazorNews Inter-Agency Cooperation Awards held on Thursday, Attah argued that terrorism, organised crime and economic sabotage have grown more agile, technologically enabled and transnational. He said these networks now exploit illegal mining, arms trafficking, cyber communication tools and cross-border supply chains to fund and coordinate violent operations, making integrated policing indispensable.
Attah described the country’s solid minerals sector as a vital economic asset that has, for many years, been infiltrated by criminal groups. He said the establishment of the Mining Marshals was intended to disrupt the financial channels through which illegal mining has enriched criminal networks and, in some areas, enabled non-state actors to entrench territorial control.
According to him, the early successes recorded by the Mining Marshals, including the disruption of unauthorised mining hubs and the recovery of stolen mineral resources, were possible only because of consistent cooperation with the Armed Forces, the Police, the Department of State Services, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and several other security bodies. These partnerships, he said, illustrate how joint operations can achieve results that isolated efforts cannot.
Attah emphasised that Nigeria’s security framework functions as an interconnected system, and weaknesses in one agency inevitably affect the rest. He warned that while criminal groups are rapidly adopting tools such as drones, encrypted communication and digital financial systems, state institutions continue to struggle with bureaucratic fragmentation, overlapping mandates and limited real-time intelligence sharing.
To address these gaps, he called for legislated cooperation frameworks that would standardise intelligence sharing, harmonise operational protocols, strengthen joint investigations and ensure that agencies train together rather than in isolation. He argued that such codification would not only improve operational outcomes but also reduce duplication of resources and enhance public trust at a time of budgetary strain.
Attah commended RazorNews for recognising efforts across the security sector, saying the awards encourage a culture in which institutions prioritise collaboration rather than rivalry. He noted that the honourees demonstrate the value of pooling expertise, mandates and operational capabilities.
He concluded by urging agencies to remain united in purpose, noting that groups responsible for insecurity often operate with clear internal coordination, whether driven by profit, ideology or opportunism. Attah reaffirmed the Mining Marshals’ readiness to work with federal, state, local and international partners to safeguard Nigeria’s mineral assets and disrupt the economic foundations that sustain violent networks.
The event was attended by senior figures from the security establishment, including representatives of the Inspector General of Police and the Minister of Defence, as well as traditional and community leaders.
