By Ikugbadi Oluwasegun
Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals has unveiled a special security architecture to combat illegal miners in Nigeria.
The minister disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday, he said, “In fulfillment of a major plank of my 7-point agenda to create a new security architecture to secure mining sites, we unveiled a 2,200-strong Mines Marshal to smoke out illegal miners and all those who flout our nation’s mining laws.
I formally received the marshals drawn from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and charged them to stem theft and all nefarious activities around our mineral resources to ensure we reap maximum benefits from our God-given resources.
The Mines Marshal, as part of the new security architecture, will have their command and control domiciled in the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development (MSMD), with an initial 60 operatives deployed in each state and the FCT. I commend my interior counterpart Hon. Olubunmi Tunji -Ojo for working tirelessly with my ministry to achieve this feat, and I am pleased to launch the first batch of this security apparatus today.
The Mines Marshal, an inter-agency security outfit, will also include special operatives from other security agencies and will operate with a focus on technological advancements.”