Niger govt begins profiling miners
Mining
Niger State government has begun the profiling of miners across the state to ascertain the genuine ones. Commissioner for Mineral Resources, Garba Yahaya, who disclosed this while flagging off the exercise at the ministry’s premises, yesterday, stated that the profiling was aimed at collecting the accurate data of mineworkers operating in the state, to help the government trace the sites.
He said: “Government received information that miners are sponsoring banditry and terrorism in the state.
“According to information at government’s disposal, miners pay bandits to allow them to do business unhindered. Therefore, we are profiling them to enable us to trace the genuine ones.”
Explaining that the profiling is the first step, the commissioner insisted that the government would leave no stone unturned to know those in the business, as “a task force will soon be set up to uproot those operating illegally.”
He urged officials of Miners’ Association of Nigeria, to mobilise their members to cooperate with government officials throughout the registration exercise.
Chairman of the association in Niger, Mohammed Mambo, said profiling of his members is a credit to the government. Denying knowledge of any miner sponsoring bandits, he noted that since the existence of the association, no member had been accused or arrested for any form of crime.
He maintained that no miner operating in the state had any affiliation with bandits. Mambo revealed that no fewer than 5,000 women and youths were into mining across the state. The miners assured the government of their support to enable it achieve the set objectives.
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