The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), has discovered and arrested 21 illegal miners in Cross River State.
NSCDC personnel alongside the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development were responsible for the arrest of the suspect in the Utanga community, Obanliku Local Government Area of the state.
The suspects were apprehended on May 11 and were paraded on Monday by the state Commandant of the NSCDC, Mr Samuel Fadeyi, at the NSCDC headquarters in Calabar, the state capital.
Fadeyi complained that illegal mining could worsen security challenges and cause natural disasters in the community.
Fadeyi explained how their searchlight was able to identify a place in the Utanga community in the Obanliku Local Government Area where they raided 21 people caught in the act of illegal mining.
He added that the people caught were arrested with their tools and are undergoing investigation that will lead to prosecutio.
Fadeyi further stated that some communities are complicit in these illegal mining activities in their area because they rely on peanuts that come out of it and forget the challenges that may come thereafter.
Fadeyi said these illegal activities can attract criminal elements, warlords, insecurity and disaster in the area during the process of digging.
He added that the illegal miners would have approached the Federal Mines Office and get a license and allow the mines officer to put them through before undergoing such activities.
Mayowa Omosebi, the Federal Mines Officer, Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Cross River State, said efforts had been on to stop illegal mining in the area.
Omosebi asked for more funding because of the peculiarity of distance in Cross River because the headquarters of the state office is very far from where the illegal activities take place.
He further noted that there is no place illegal mining activities take place without the consent of the land owners and he has organized a stakeholders’ forum to educate them on the need to do the right thing.
Omosebi encouraged members of the public that the license for mining is straightforward, and that they should explore the right channels and shun illegality.
Various equipments such as pumping machines, diggers, head-pans and shovels were recovered from the illegal miners.
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