Retired military generals behind illegal mining in Nigeria

Edo North Senator Adams Oshiomhole has alleged that retired military officers coordinate illegal mining activities nationwide.

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Mr Oshiomhole, a former governor of Edo State, stated this on Friday when the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, Ekong Samson, submitted the report of his committee’s budget defence to the Committee on Appropriations.

“The ongoing illegal mining across the country is being carried out by retired generals, and we know them. Yes, we know them,” he said.

Oil thieves in Nigeria employ various techniques to carry out illegal oil bunkering as a way of siphoning thousands of barrels of crude oil daily from established pipelines.

To address the issue, the government established a Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta region and other affected areas.

The JTF, which involves personnel from the Nigerian Army, Air Force, Navy, and Police, has conducted multiple raids on known hotspots and made numerous arrests over the years.

However, despite these efforts, oil bunkering persists.

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Operations similar to militias in conflict zones

Mr Oshiomhole recounted that during his tenure as National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he wrote to former President Muhammadu Buhari to inform him about the situation.

He narrated how a team he delegated to conduct APC primaries in Zamfara State encountered severe security challenges due to the presence of heavily armed illegal miners.

“I wrote a letter to former President Muhammadu Buhari on the matter when he was in office. This is because a team that I sent to go and conduct the primary somewhere reported back to me the challenge of conducting primary elections in Zamfara because of the illegal miners,” he said.

The senator said the illegal miners’ operations are similar to those of the militias in conflict zones such as South Sudan, using advanced weaponry and aviation support to extract and smuggle minerals out of Nigeria.

“The team told me that those illegal miners procure arms exactly the same way the military is doing in South Sudan. They give them arms. They use choppers to come and cart away the gold, and they take them out of this country and make billions of U.S. dollars,” he added.

He raised concern that despite the government’s knowledge of these operations, little has been done to curb the illicit mining activities.

“Unfortunately, the federal government is not doing what it should be doing. I took this letter to the former president when I was the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress, and I said, call the generals to give you more briefing.

“It is not that we don’t know where it is. We have a whole survey of where we can find them across the length and breadth of Nigeria. Even as we are talking now, they are still those illegal miners, and those guys are getting richer when they get poorer,” he stated.

Mr Oshiomhole urged the federal government to deploy the same military force used against illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta region to tackle illegal mining in other affected areas.

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“My position is that we shouldn’t be lamenting. We should fix the problem. We should tell the executive you must deploy exactly the same force that you deployed against illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta.

“That same force should be deployed to deal with criminals who have money. When I say criminal, it can be a retired general, it can be a retired permanent secretary, it can be a retired trade unionist, or a retired labour leader,” the lawmaker said.

Increase in solid minerals ministry budge

Earlier, Mr Samson said the committee recommended allocating N539 billion to the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development in the 2025 budget.

Mr Oshiomhole’s revelations and the Senate’s push for increased funding highlight the urgency of addressing illegal resource extraction in Nigeria.

The call for intervention and budgetary adjustments suggests that lawmakers are taking the issue seriously, but the effectiveness of these measures remains to be seen.