The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps Mining Marshals say efforts to weaken terrorism and banditry must include cutting off illicit financing linked to illegal mining and other criminal economies.
Commander of the Mining Marshals John Attah Onoja said security agencies needed to look beyond direct armed confrontation and focus on the financial networks that enable violent groups to survive.
He spoke during a meeting with members of the Defence Correspondents Association of Nigeria in Abuja.
Onoja said illegal mining was no longer only an economic or environmental offence but had increasingly acquired a national security dimension.
According to him, criminal groups operating in remote areas required money, food, fuel, logistics and other resources to sustain their activities.
He argued that identifying and disrupting those sources of finance could reduce the operational capacity of bandits, kidnappers and terrorist organisations.
The Mining Marshals, he said, were using intelligence led operations to identify, arrest, investigate and prosecute people involved in unlawful extraction and associated criminal networks.
Onoja said the objective was to make criminal activity less profitable and therefore more difficult to sustain.
He acknowledged limitations in manpower and logistics but said the unit would continue maintaining a visible presence in mining communities as a deterrent.
The commander also called for cooperation among security agencies, regulators, communities and the media.
He said public communication was important to explaining the security implications of illegal mining and encouraging communities to report suspicious activity.
The Mining Marshals were established to improve enforcement in Nigeria’s solid minerals sector, where illegal extraction has been linked in some areas to organised crime, environmental damage and loss of government revenue.
