By Palma Ileye
A bold move to give relief to mines shut down by States was brokered at a meeting between the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development and the Governors Forum with a resolution to work together on grey areas in Mine administration in the country.
According to the Ministry’s statement, three Governors- Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde and Niger State Governor, Umar Bago- met the Solid Minerals Minister Dr Oladele Alake in his office in Abuja.
The statement disclosed that both parties addressed the press on their decision to work together to remove obstacles to industrial peace in the mines.
It stated they both agreed to sanitize mining operations across the States of the Federation, resolve issues of Cadastral licences for mutually beneficial gains.
His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Mohammed Bago made this known while fielding questions on incidences of states banning mining activities in their States.
Elaborating further, the Executive Governor of Niger State said as sub-national Governments, they decided for security purposes to shut down mining operations in their respective States.
“We are referring them back to the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development. For instance, a Chinese company was given license to mine Zuma rock, a national monument: can any company in Nigeria or anywhere in the world go and mine the wall of China? It is not possible. So this is our monument,” Bago stated.
Continuing and for emphasis, the Niger State Governor, affirmed: “We have come to consult with the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Oladele Alake to solicit collaboration.
“Let them come back to to the Ministry for revalidation, come back to to the states to register their presence.”
In his comment, Alake said the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development was resolutely committed to sanitize the mining operations generally in all it’s ramifications and ensuring adequate security.
“As I have told the governors, we are re-jigging our security architecture nationally with the active collaboration of the states. And we will ensure that the objective is achieved at the end of the day,” the Minister asserted.