ENDO, NASARAWA STATE – The Federal Government has arrested more than 300 illegal miners across Nigeria, with over 150 currently facing prosecution and more than 20 collaborators already convicted, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has disclosed.
Alake made the announcement on Wednesday during the commissioning of Diamond New Energy, described as the largest lithium processing plant in West Africa, in Endo, Nasarawa State.
He said the arrests formed part of the Federal Government’s renewed efforts to sanitise the mining sector through stricter law enforcement and the formalisation of artisanal mining activities.
According to the minister, the government established a specialised security outfit known as the Mining Marshals to combat illegal mining nationwide.
“For the first time in the history of Nigeria, we established the Mining Marshals, a new security architecture devoted exclusively to combating illegal mining,” Alake said.
“So far, over 300 illegal miners have been apprehended. More than 150 are currently undergoing prosecution, and we have secured the conviction of over 20 collaborators.”
The minister said the ministry had also registered more than 250 artisanal mining cooperatives across the country as part of efforts to integrate informal miners into the formal economy.
He explained that the initiative would enable artisanal miners to operate legally, gain access to financing, and contribute to government revenue through the payment of royalties and taxes.
“They will no longer be referred to as illegal miners,” he added.
Alake reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to ending the export of raw minerals without domestic processing, describing local value addition as the cornerstone of the administration’s solid minerals policy.
“We will no longer be exporting our raw minerals. Local value addition has become the pivot of our policies,” he said.
He described the newly commissioned lithium processing plant as a major milestone in Nigeria’s industrialisation drive, saying it would create jobs, attract investment, and help reverse the long-standing practice of exporting raw minerals while importing finished products.
The minister also disclosed that Nigeria’s policy requiring evidence of local processing before the export of solid minerals had inspired similar reforms across Africa, leading to the establishment of the Africa Mineral Strategy Group, which is currently chaired by Nigeria.
The Federal Government has identified the solid minerals sector as a key pillar of its economic diversification strategy, with increasing emphasis on curbing illegal mining, encouraging local processing, and attracting investment into mineral beneficiation industries.
