19 Illegal Chinese Miners ‘ll Be Prosecuted- Minister
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc Olamilekan Adegbite, has vowed to prosecute 19 illegal Chinese miners recently arrested by the Nigerian Police Force and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Osun and Zamfara States according to the Mining Act 2007.
Adegbite made this known while briefing the media over what the Ministry is doing to curb the spate of illegal mining operations in the country, and said the economic sabotage of these illegal nationals in the sector will be addressed legally and diplomatically.
According to him the two states where the Chinese illegal miners were apprehended are States where Gold deposit abounds, because in Osun State a foreign company, a Canadian company is already operating there and as a result of this development in Osun with proven reserve including Zamfara State, these illegal miners are attracted to go there to perpetrate their criminal activities in connivance with Nigerians who invite them for such activities.
He said: “In Osun, 17 foreigners have been apprehended while in Zamfara just two of them. We are taking them to the Federal High Court, the case is being compiled.
The people caught in Zamfara have been transferred to the headquarters as the body empowered to prosecute these people under the Mining Act for what they have done.
“Their files are being compiled and we sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions so that we can arraign them in court so that it serves as deterrence because in the past it is assumed that we can only bark and not bite.
“We found out that there are a lot of miners especially the foreigners, they are also here illegally, so some of the measures that we would want to take is with Ministry of Interior because what is the status of these people when they come in, some of them have only visiting visa and some of them have visas that have expired.
“The foreign nationals they identified are the Chinese, Burkinabes, Senegalese, and others, but particularly the Chinese.
“How do we make sure that the Minister of Interior keeps track of all these villains who come into Nigeria and they go back as at when due. These are some of the measures to checkmate this.
“Also, go to some international diplomacy, we will be interacting with some Embassies especially the Chinese Embassy because they are the main culprits in this. We have to interact with the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria so that it would not be as if we are unfair to their people we will present the facts to them so that they also keep these people in check.”