Mining marshals arrest 600 illegal miners, recover 100 sites

By Evelyn Usman
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, has disclosed that its Mining Marshals have arrested over 600 suspected illegal miners, recovered more than 100 illegal mining sites and commenced prosecution of over 500 suspects since the specialised unit was established in March 2024.

Commander of the Mining Marshals, Assistant Commandant Attah Onoja, disclosed this yesterday while speaking as Lead Guest Speaker at the 8th edition of the NSCDC Lagos Public Relations Clinic, organised by the Lagos State Command in collaboration with Halogen Group, with the theme, “Collaborative Security as a Paradigm for Mining Security.”

Onoja said the establishment of the Mining Marshals was part of the Federal Government’s response to the growing menace of illegal mining and the need to diversify the Nigerian economy through the development of the solid minerals sector.

The Mining Marshals, according to him, “is a specialised security initiative of the Federal Government to combat the growing menace of illegal mining in Nigeria. The initiative, created in March 2024 by the NSCDC Commandant-General, Prof. Abubakar Audi, was particularly birthed at a time Nigeria was in dire need of diversifying the economy.

“From March 2024 till date, we have made several arrests, recovered over 100 illegal mining sites and restored them to legitimate investors. Several of those arrested for these offences are also currently undergoing prosecution, even as our zero tolerance for compromise is compelling a traffic of compliance on the doorsteps of the regulatory agencies.”

Describing illegal mining as more than an economic or environmental offence, he said its activities could have implications for national security, stressing that no single security agency could effectively tackle illegal mining without collaboration with other stakeholders.

He said the NSCDC Commandant-General’s “3Cs” policy of collaboration, cooperation and coordination had become central to the operations of the Mining Marshals, noting that “ “When we started, the reality was stark. Enforcement was fragmented and information was siloed. Illegal operators took advantage of these gaps and plundered the land so badly to fuel insecurity. Accordingly, for us at the Mining Marshals, collaborative security became not just a slogan but our operating system.”

He identified community collaboration, private-sector collaboration and inter-agency collaboration as the three major pillars of the Mining Marshals’ operational strategy, adding that credible information from host communities had contributed significantly to the success of operations against illegal miners.

“The most effective security is community-driven. Our greatest successes have come from credible community tips. When host communities see themselves as partners and beneficiaries of legal mining, illegal mining loses its social base,” he stated.

He also emphasised the role of the private sector, particularly in the deployment of technology and intelligence to monitor vast mining corridors.

Acknowledging Halogen Group, the commander said: “Securing vast mining corridors requires massive technology, risk intelligence and private security expertise that government alone cannot provide. The private sector is not just a stakeholder; it is a force multiplier.”

Onoja said the Mining Marshals had consequently been deploying technology in collaboration with private-sector players to strengthen their operations.

On inter-agency cooperation, he said: “We work hand-in-hand with our parent body, the NSCDC, whose statutory mandate under the NSCDC Act protects Critical National Assets and Infrastructure. We work with the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development for technical and regulatory intelligence, with the Military, the Police, the DSS where crimes intersect, and with the Judiciary for prosecution.

“The effect is that mining is now returning to being an orderly, revenue-generating sector for Nigeria.”
However, Onoja acknowledged that significant challenges remained, particularly the vastness of the country’s mining terrain and the increasing sophistication of illegal mining networks.

He therefore called for collaboration to move beyond operational tactics and become a national security paradigm, saying: “We need to move from collaborative security as an operational tactic to collaborative security as a national paradigm. We must share data better, communicate faster, and speak with one voice to the public.”

Describing journalists as a critical fourth pillar in the fight against illegal mining, Onoja said the manner in which mining security was reported could influence public understanding of the problem, cautioning security agencies against sending conflicting messages about the fight against illegal mining.

He said: “How we frame mining security shapes how Nigerians perceive it. Illegal mining must be reported not just as an economic crime, but as a threat to national security. We must not sing discordant tunes on the fight against illegal mining. We must not profess collaboration in the ears of the media and on the faces of newspapers, while doing something different in the field,” he warned.

Onoja further linked compromise in mining security to the broader insecurity challenge, saying stronger collaboration among stakeholders would help curb criminal activities associated with illegal exploitation of the nation’s mineral resources.

“Compromising Nigeria’s mining security on the altar of personal gains inversely fuels insecurity in Nigeria. More effective collaboration by all stakeholders against illegal mining will help reduce insecurity in Nigeria. When mining activities are lawfully and legitimately carried out, the government will earn its dues, and the state can effectively monitor what the mining companies are doing with the revenues accruing to them, thereby stemming the problem of terrorism sponsorship and related crimes.”

The commander also invoked the resource curse theory, explaining that countries rich in natural resources could fail to achieve corresponding economic growth when such resources were not properly harnessed.
He said Nigeria’s mining security strategy was therefore important to ensuring that the country’s mineral wealth became a source of economic development rather than insecurity and exploitation.

Onoja commended the Lagos State Command of the NSCDC and Halogen Group for organising the PR Clinic, describing the platform as important for bringing operational realities into public discourse.
Earlier in his remarks, the Lagos State Commandant of the NSCDC, Mr Adedotun Keshinro, said mining security had gone beyond protecting individual mining sites, stressing that it now involved safeguarding the nation’s economic interests and denying criminal elements access to resources that could fund other crimes.

Keshinro explained that although Lagos was not widely associated with large-scale solid mineral mining, its position as the nation’s economic nerve centre made it central to the mining value chain, particularly in financing, logistics, equipment and exports.

According to him, collaborative security must involve regulators, private security operators, communities and the public sector, noting that intelligence sharing, strategic communication, technology and proper training were essential.

“The NSCDC as regulator and Halogen and other Private Guard Companies as operators are not competitors; we are partners in national security. We must continue to share intelligence, standardize training, and enforce compliance,” Keshinro stated.

One of the panelists, Prof. Adedeji Oyenuga, a lecturer at the Lagos State University, stressed the need to place host communities at the centre of mining security, saying peace was essential to achieving sustainable results, adding that the welfare and remuneration of security personnel deployed to mining sites should be treated as an integral part of security planning.

Oyenuga said stakeholders must engage communities and relevant institutions in order to build trust and improve security around mining operations.

“In this collaboration, we are talking about the public, private sector and community. We need community involvement. The workers on the field should be properly integrated because you also need human intelligence, and you can only get that through people,” he said.

He also called for stronger integration of field workers into the security framework, noting that the welfare of security personnel should be given adequate attention because they also have families and responsibilities.

According to him, effective collaboration would lead to improved intelligence gathering, faster emergency response and greater compliance with regulations.

“For collaboration to be strong, you need to integrate the workers on the field. The work of officers is to take care of lives, but who takes care of the officers themselves? They have families. If you integrate these things together, it makes things work,” Oyenuga stated, while also advocating a strengthened legal framework and preventive strategies for mining security.

On his part, Executive Director, Operations and Services, Halogen Security, Mr Bosun Sosanya, said Halogen’s involvement in the security architecture should be viewed as part of a broader public-private-community partnership, stressing that private security operators could complement the efforts of government security agencies through technology, manpower, intelligence and specialised expertise. He said effective collaboration would bring government agencies, private security companies such as Halogen, mining operators and host communities under a coordinated framework.

“In this collaboration, we are not exactly talking about public and private. We are also talking about public, private and community collaboration,” Sosanya said, stressing that the objective should be to ensure that the different stakeholders worked together rather than in isolation.

He added that such collaboration must be properly coordinated, with clear rules and responsibilities guiding the roles of the various actors involved in protecting mining operations.

Vanguard News

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