The Federal Government has been instructed to abandon its proposal to outlaw miners’ activities in the nation by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).
The chamber announced the proposal in a statement that was titled “LCCI statement on the planned statewide ban on motorbikes and mining activities” and was signed by Dr Chinyere Almona, the director-general of the organisation.
According to the government, the National Security Council was considering imposing a statewide ban on motorbikes and mining operations in the nation as a means of reducing terrorist activity and cutting off the terrorists’ access to funds.
According to the statement, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Mining and Solid Minerals Group was worried about the unforeseen effects this prohibition might have on the mining industry and the business climate.
The statement read in part, “Whilst it can be understood that criminals use motorcycles as means of mobility and escape from the security agencies, it is unacceptable to label the entire Nigerian mining ecosystem as sponsors of banditry and terrorism. This looks like an attempt to blame all legitimate mining operators for the activities of bandits and terrorists operating in Nigeria.
“The Nigerian mining industry employs several thousand in the formal and informal economy of Nigeria. Specifically, the artisanal and small-scale mining ecosystem accounts for at least 90% of the activities in the mining sector; from granite quarrying, limestone mining, to base metals mining, limestone mining for cement production, sand mining, non-metallic industrial inputs for the paint and pharmaceutical industry, to mining of precious metals like gold; as well as gemstones mining.”
According to LCCI, legitimate mining businesses should be distinguished from and kept at a distance from the criminal and terrorist operations on which the National Security Council’s recommendation was founded.
The chamber also encouraged the government to strengthen the mining and solid minerals industries by implementing geographic information systems, automating the application process, and centralising the processing of mining licences, leases, and permits.
The statement further read, “The Integrated Automation and Interactive Solid Minerals Portal should truly be a go-to portal for real time information on the sector. We should also finalize the plan to build a national electronic geo-data archiving management system to be called the Nigerian Geo-Data Center at the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency. All of these would make it easy to access information on mining by investors across the globe.”
For his part, John Udeagbala, the director-general of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture, described the matter as having two sides and requiring careful consideration before a position could be made.
He said, “We heard about that, but it a double-edged, and we know that a lot of crimes are associated with those artisanal miners with motorcycles, like in Zamfara. So, we have been trying to weigh it and analyse the situation before coming up with a position. It is two-pronged; we know there are genuine miners who have licenses. We are trying to weigh the two situations before we can take a position.”
