Africa-Press – Nigeria. Plateau State Governor, Barr. Caleb Mutfwang, has attributed illegal mining as one of the key factors fueling insecurity in the state, which was the reason he signed an Executive Order suspending mining activities.
Gov. Mutfwang, who made the assertion when he hosted journalists at the Government House in Jos, where he gave an account of his stewardship in the last two years, said the huge mineral deposits in the state, which could be a significant revenue earner, have turned into a source of conflicts whereby bandits have used the resources to sustain their nefarious activities by unleashing mayhem on innocent people.
Gov. Mutfwang lamented the fact that these bandits, through their sponsors who procure sophisticated weapons for them, would go into communities with huge mineral deposits, sack the communities, and take over the mining business illegally.
Justifying the Executive Order, which critics had described as a way of stifling small-scale businesses, the governor said his administration aimed to effectively regulate the mining industry so that the people who are engaged in it legally would not be exploited.
Mutfwang noted that mining is a crucial economic driver, which could help the state and the investors to benefit greatly if done right.
He stressed that illegal mining has remained a big challenge for the state, which informed his decision to sign the order that temporarily suspended all mining activities in the state so that a committee can sit down and come up with a workable template that would regulate the money-spinning sector for the benefit of all.
The governor also emphasized that part of the insecurity being faced in the state is driven by the mineral attacks which are often aimed at displacing communities so criminals can access deposits, vowing that his administration would not fold its hands and allow indigenous people to be chased out of their lands.
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