Alake to Kogi youths: Ask your elders to withdraw support from illegal miners
Solid Minerals Development Minister Dele Alake has called on the youths of Kogi State to consult and convince elders, community leaders and local authorities to stop covering up illegal miners to reduce the damage they are inflicting on the environment.
Addressing members of Concerned Kogi Youths Against Environmental Degradation who were on a protest to the Ministry on Thursday, Alake, according to a statement by Lara Owoeye-Wyse, his Special Assistant on Media thanked them for joining the Ministry’s campaign against illegal mining and assured them that the government is deploying technology and consolidating the Mining Marshal to increase the tempo of the war against illegal mining.
He said Kogi State has been of particular concern to the Ministry, recalling that the first operation of the Mining Marshal was the dislodgement of illegal mines from the area covered by licence 19325, belonging to the North-South Extractive Industries, in Yagba East Local Government of Kogi State.
His words: “The Marshals have aided many companies to expel illegal miners and prosecute them. Between March, 2024 and August, 2026, the Mining Marshals identified 374 illegal mining sites. To date, 108 of such sites have been cleared. We have arrested 743 suspects; we are prosecuting 165 cases involving 430 accused persons. So far, we have secured five convictions.”
Noting that several committees headed by the ministry’s permanent secretaries have visited Kogi State to probe similar complaints, the Minister said investigations have revealed that illegal miners are not aliens but indigenes involved in illegitimate livelihood with the support of elders, traditional rulers and local government functionaries.
Alake said: “Their illegal activities are killing the mining companies. In the coal fields, they are stealing the minerals of mining companies which have paid money to obtain licences and will still pay royalties for the minerals extracted. Illegal miners don’t pay for licences. They don’t pay royalties. They enrich themselves at the expense of the Nigerian people.
This ministry has a message for them and their collaborators: time is running out. With the ongoing deployment of technology and the consolidation of the mining marshals, very soon there will be no hiding place for these criminals.
If, as you claim, you are Kogi youths, take this message to the stakeholders in your communities. Consult your elders. Convince community leaders and local authorities to back off and allow the machinery of enforcement to work diligently and effectively to combat illegal mining and stop the reckless degradation of our environment.”
The Minister was represented by the Director, Mining Inspectorate, Engr. Imam Ganiyu, Director, Mining Environmental Compliance, Dr Vivian Okono, Director, Special Duties, Eng. Frank Odom, Director, Human Resources, Dr Ijeoma Idika and the Commander, Mining Marshals, John Attah Onoja.
Speaking earlier on behalf of the protesters, the Co-ordinator of the association, Comrade Isaiah Davies Ijele, said the protest was to draw the attention of the Minister to the environmental degradation occurring in the Kogi East senatorial district, particularly in the Ankpa and Omala communities.
He alleged that mining operations are being carried out in violation of environmental and regulatory standards,, leaving many communities with damaged roads, destroyed farmland, polluted water sources, and worsening living conditions.
He urged the Minister to order investigations into all mining activities in Ankpa and Omala local government areas, deploy the Mines Inspectorate and Mining Marshals to enforce the laws and seal any mining companies found to have violated the rules.
Responding, the Director, MEC, Dr Okono said that, following the Minister’s directives, the Ministry was compiling a list of mining companies that are defaulting on their Community Development Agreements and would soon publish their names, in addition to other penalties.
