Nigeria’s potential as a country has never been in doubt, neither has its promise as a country that can go on to achieve great things, and specifically as a country that can rise from the ashes of colonialism and civil war to take its place among developed nations.
The blazing light of independence may have given way to the stygian darkness of military rule and civil war and more military rule, yet, Nigeria is expected to have recovered.
As a country that its recovery has been delayed remains one of the most difficult national nuts ever given any country anywhere to crack. It is no surprise that Nigeria is still struggling to crack same.
As Nigeria has trudged towards nationhood having to bring its feet through mud and muck, the abundant resources the country is blessed with have become flashpoints for the conflicts that batter it. To take just one of those resources, oil for instance, the mess the Niger Delta has become and the complacent crisis the country’s economy has coughed up make it superfluous to say more.
When resources are not properly managed, they become ruins. Illegal mining continues across Nigeria, with no signs of stopping any time soon. If anything, it is picking up in ferocity and atrocity.
In parts of Nigeria where minerals have been discovered in commercial quantities, miners, many of them expatriates, working with locals, have descended like locusts, determined to gather as much as they can. They are as ruthless as they are ruinous. But what is even more alarming is the fact that in their bid to get to Nigeria’s minerals, they are often prepared to get anyone or anything out of the way.
Entire families have been slaughtered with entire communities displaced. Their modus is to start and stoke conflicts. They follow a pattern around the world that exposes the ruthless underbelly of the resource curse as has been seen in countries like DR Congo and Sudan. With blood money flowing in, they fire up conflicts so that in the chaos they can have unfettered access to mineral resources.
In Nigeria, traditional rulers, government officials, security personnel, foreigners, and many others who have no compunction whatsoever about participating in criminal enterprises have all been accused of participating in illegal mining and benefiting from its blood money.
Locals have hardly benefitted from illegal mining. Instead, in many cases, they have become pawns in a ruthless game of greet and gain.
In a country vulnerable on all sides, one in which a jarring lack of transparency provides many a hiding place for criminals and the proceeds of their crimes, terrorists also participate in illegal mining to fund their operations.
It is disheartening that despite the clear and present dangers posed by illegal mining, the Nigerian government is not doing enough to curb the menace. The country is losing revenue in billions; the environment is being degraded and insecurity is festering all at the instance of the illegal miners, yet the government is not doing enough.
There are laws regulating the solid minerals sector and mining in the court. These illegal miners are clearly and illegally operating outside the bounds of these laws. They ought to be punished in accordance with law.
Mining operations ought to be regulated by law. It is the only way criminals who convert Nigeria’s minerals into blood minerals and blood money can be checked.
Kene Obiezu, wrote via keneobiezu@gmail.com