Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle has attributed the influx of guns in the state to foreigners who use arms to pay for gold and other mineral deposits in the state.
He has therefore sought the help of President Muhammadu Buhari on how best to tackle the menace of illegal mining in the state.
He spoke to State House Correspondents on Monday night after he presented some gold bars and other precious stones mined in his state to Buhari at his residence.
The gold is expected to become a part of Nigeria’s external reserve after being purchased by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Nigeria had earlier mined, processed, and refined gold under the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative, (PAGMI). The first batch of PAGMI gold was unveiled at a presentation ceremony to President Buhari on July 16, 2020.
“PAGMI will result in the creation of thousands of new mining and formalized jobs, leading to poverty alleviation for many households. Under the scheme, artisanal and small scale gold miners will earn more from higher productivity, better recovery rates through mechanization of operations, and better access to reliable geological information,” Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, had said at the presentation in July.
According to Matawalle, in order to break the cycle of foreigners illegal foray into the states, the state government has been buying minerals from the locals to boost the local economy assuring that within two to three months, the state will go into full scale mining.
He said: “It is very important to us as a government particularly the issue of insecurity, to know the root cause. Zamfara State is blessed with many minerals resources and some people outside the country come in to buy gold and other precious stones and sometimes instead of paying people, they pay back with arms. I did some investigations so the state government will be buying some of these minerals so that we can block that chain.
“So now the state government is engaging the miners, we will be buying some of these gold from them with the limited resources we have. We have some many cases of gun running in Zamfara State. Mr. President is very happy with the system we have initiated and he said whatever support that we need, the federal government is ready to assist us, infact he has given directive to the minister of solid minerals to work with the state government to make Nigeria a great country in terms of solid minerals, diversify from oil to solid mineral resources.”
Matawalle said he was in the State House to specially President Buhari on the many challenges the state was facing, particularly the issue of illegal mining that is ongoing on a daily basis.
He said: “Like three days ago, we discovered a large deposit of gold in our state where the locals are trooping in thousand to do illegal mining.
“So I came to seek his advice on how best we are going to tackle the issue of illegal mining, we discussed and he gave me all the support and in a few days, people of Zamfara will see a lot of changes especially in mining sector.”
The governor specifically called for the strengthening of local miners in the state so that they can benefit from the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMI) programme of the federal government.
The governor also dismissed calls for the sack of service chiefs on the grounds that sacking them will not end the insecurity bedeviling the nation.
On the security situation in Zamfara, he said “As you must of heard before the narration has changed, you won’t be hearing of mass killings in the state because, the security are doing their best. I equally advised the president that those that are calling for the sack of the service chiefs is not the solution.
“Let us support the security agencies and we as governors, we have a big role to play, we just have to support the security agencies no matter what. If the governors are not serious they can’t be able to achieve what they want. I told the President that all those are calling for the sack of the security chiefs should think of the best way to support them to perform better instead of sacking them, even if you sack them, you are bringing another one, so let us use the one that we have, we will support them as a government, my state now is at peace and everybody is aware.
“We have more than 3000 policemen going round the mining sites in order to protect the mining site. We have the security agencies, it’s just for us as leaders to support them. I believe we will see a lot of changes in terms of security in this country.”