Prince Adewole Adebayo, a presidential candidate for the Social Democratic Party in the 2023 election, has voiced his concern that the country’s budget is dwarfed by the thievery and amount lost to illegal mining.
On Sunday’s episode of Politics Today on Channels Television, Adebayo sounded the alarm.
In the last twenty years, illicit mining has grown in Nigeria, particularly in the Bukkuyum and Anka LGAs in what is now Zamfara State.
The country loses around $9 billion a year due to illicit mining, according to House of Representatives Committee on Solid Minerals Chairman Jonathan Gbefwi’s announcement in July 2024.
Additionally, the member expressed dismay that the small number of lawfully operating miners only provide 3% of royalties to the national treasury.
The country is severely bleeding and witnessing some sort of leakages in the industry, as Adebayo also stressed on Sunday.
Are you aware that Dele Alake has been somewhat silent as of late? he asked. He should explain to us how he increased profits from solid minerals. The reason behind this is that he was successful in increasing tariffs on licenses and miners while simultaneously causing regulatory pushbacks that benefited us.
“Notwithstanding this, illicit mining continues to flourish. Illegal mining has taken more money than the whole budget they are now working on, and that goes all the way from Zamfara to Osun, Ebonyi, and Nasarawa here.