The Minister of Solid Minerals Development is right to be worried and concerned about illegal mining in our communities. But the current narrative that puts all the blame on local miners, traditional rulers, mining communities, and artisanal miners is misleading.
Illegal mining is thriving not because Nigerians love crime but because the government has failed in its duty.
First, regulatory neglect
Most Federal Mines Offices, FMOs, in the states are dysfunctional. Monthly allocations and office imprest do not come regularly from headquarters. There are no utility vehicles for inspection. There is no budget for the sensitization of operators and communities. There are no capacity building workshops for staff.
In many cases, FMO offices are forced to rely on miners, including illegal ones and corrupt state and local governments official with interest in mining and minerals businesses, to run basic office needs or activities. How do you expect effective regulation when the regulator is broken and unfunded?
Second, lack of political will.
The Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007 is clear. But, enforcement is inconsistent and reckless. Policies change with press releases. There is no long-term plan for formalization, data gathering, or partnership with legal operators.
Third, state and LGA interference.
This is the biggest open secret. Many state governors and Local Government Chairmen are directly allocating mining sites to illegal operators. They collect royalties and multiple taxes from them sometimes engage in sharing of illegally won minerals. This is a direct violation of the Constitution, which places solid minerals on the Exclusive List. Yet there has been zero warning or sanction from the Ministry. Silence is taken as approval.
Fourth, wrong approach to enforcement.
You can not end illegal mining with raids alone. Without funding FMOs, without formalizing artisanal miners into cooperatives and without confronting political actors, the cycle will continue.
Blaming traditional rulers and poor artisanal miners is the easy way out. But they are only filling the vacuum left by the government.
The solution is simple: Fund and equip FMOs. Sanction state interference. Sensitize and formalize artisanal miners. Enforce the law consistently.
Until the Ministry fixes its own house and confronts powerful political actors, the war on illegal mining will remain a slogan.
Illegal mining is a symptom. Institutional failure is the disease.
*Mohammed Abubakar Hassan is of Adamawa Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners Association Yola.
