Follow Us on Google
From John Adams, Minna
Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, has ordered immediate suspension of all mining activities in parts of the state.
The order followed last week killing of 34 soldiers, eight mobile policemen and a number of local vigilantes by gunmen at a mining site in Agata Aboki, Erena Ward of Shiroro Local Government Area of the state.
Though the governor is yet to visit the scene of the massacre, his directive is coming barely one week after the murder of 50 security agents, including local vigilantes in an attack the community described as the mother of all attack in the area in the last five years of banditry in the state.
The massacre of security agents has attracted condemnation from political actors and stakeholders in the state, including the former commissioner for information, culture and tourism and chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Jonathan Vatsa, who called for an immediate investigation into the circumstances which led to the killing and the ownership of the private mining site being guarded by the military.
The suspension of mining activities is contained in a statement by Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Ahmed Ibrahim Matane, and listed Shiroro, Munya and Rafi local government areas as parts of the state affected by the suspension.
“The decision to suspend mining activities become necessary as a result of escalating insecurity in those areas in recent times.
“It is observed that these mining sites now attract or even accommodate criminals with prospective threats to security of lives and property,” the SSG said in the statement.
The governor warned that any operator caught engaging in mining activities in the areas would face the full wrath of the law, pointing out that “the state government has directed security agencies to profile all mining sites in the affected local governments with a view to ascertaining their genuineness.”
He assured the people that government would not scale down pressure on the armed bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers, and other criminal elements until they were flushed out of the state.
