The federal government has said that it will go after politicians and other persons involved in the illegal mining of solid minerals in the country.

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, said this while answering questions from journalists on the sideline of the investiture of the Batch 3 graduates of the ministry’s programme on gemstone and jewelry master training and empowerment, held on Thursday in Abuja.

Alake dismissed reports of a lack of political will to prosecute high-profile persons involved in the act, warning rather that, “Without the requisite federal government approved licenses, those are illegal miners.

“Whether it is states, individuals, or corporate institutions, it doesn’t matter who is committing the offense. It’s an offense to mine illegally in Nigeria.

“And these parties have been going on for ages. In fact, since the former law independence, that’s what we’ve discovered.

“However, it must stop and that is the message of the president.

“We are putting in place very concrete and enduring steps and strategies to combat these menaces because it is really affecting, adversely affecting the economic fortunes of Nigeria.

“And we all know what the economy is saying now. We can no longer rely solely on oil, you know, with exportation we would need to diversify.

“Solid minerals is the next viable, extremely very viable option. It’s an alternative revenue source. And this government intends to exploit the full potential of this critical sector.

“So all illegal activities must halt. It’s for us to be able to harness the full potential of the sector.

“Whoever is involved in the criminal activity is a criminal. So, justice has no coloration. In our own books, whoever is involved and is proved to be liable or courted will be apprehended and will be dealt with according to the dictates of the law.

“So, the law is no respecter of persons. The political will is there. If it’s not there, the president will not be able to take those very critical, correct steps as he’s taken.

“And you know those steps that have even earned Nigeria accolades in the international financial market and in the global sphere.

“It takes courage to be able to remove subsidy from oil that has been a 46-year albatross on the economic neck of Nigeria.

“Both military and civilian regimes previously could not muster that courage. And this president came in and did it without fear and the heavens haven’t fallen.

“Of course we are going through the paroxysms of the impact in the short run, in the medium to long term, when the results begin to manifest, we are not going to crucify him now. We will turn around to shout in Hosanna.

And I assure you of that. So there is an adequate political will to combat this illegal menace which has been crippling the economic fortunes of Nigeria. It will no longer be business as usual.”

On the federal government’s plan to recover parts of the country affected as a result of illegal mining activities, Alake explained “For instance, when there is a large excavation, an abandoned site, government, the ministry is making efforts to cover these sites back into proper use, where they are too laràge to recover, they are converted into other uses, like homes, like ponds for irrigation, for parks, and so many other options that are available. So that is being done gradually.

They are spread all over the country. So we are taking them in zones, and we are repairing all of those damaged areas. (Daily Independent)