Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State on Sunday, gave insight into the outcome of the high-level meeting held by the 19 Governors across the Northern region of the country to address the insecurity challenges facing the region.

Governor Sule, who disclosed this during Sunday Politics, confirmed that the Northern Governors unanimously agreed to contribute the sum of N1 billion each and every month into the security fund coffer for 12 months.

According to him, every state is to contribute N1 billion every month for the next 12 months, totalling N19 billion monthly, to hire vigilante groups.

He said: “In the meeting in Kaduna, we were able to achieve at least four major things that we were not achieving in the past. One is that we took a decision that instead of continuously looking forward to the Federal Government to come to the rescue and do one or two things for that, we say, you know what, we have to take it upon ourselves to see that we continue to support this security apart from what we usually do in the state.

“We have to come collectively, and that is when we took the decision that every state of the Northern state will be contributing N1 billion every month for the next 12 months, you know, that is 19 billion every month until we are able to achieve that.

“And we are going to introduce technology in whatever we are doing. We are going to hire our own more vigilant, get them more trained, get them equipment, get them logistics, and all it takes.

“Now, in addition to that, we came up again with another option, you know, the issue of what is the cause of most of these problems is mining. So, since mining is under the Federation of the Federal Government, we say we are asking Mr President to instruct that mining activities, you know, as a whole, should be halted until we are able to verify, you know, which ones are authentic.”

According to him, a lot of people, including foreigners carrying out illegal mining activities without obtaining appropriate licenses as

“So that is the reason why we also introduced that. And finally, you know, we’re able to even have a DG under the management of the Northern Governors Forum. So, we also want to introduce in the country, you know, who is well known for that, that is Ezekiel Gomas, you know, someone that so we invite him, we’re going to put together a team that will be driving most of this work that we are doing. So those are the kinds of decisions that we have in terms of, rather than just looking forward to the Federal Government, we said, no, we have to collectively take a decision and start looking at these things as we have had.”

When asked about the relationship between mining and insecurity in Northern Nigeria, he said: “Because mining is an economic challenge. Due to the economic challenges in the country, people find it easier to make money from mining sites. You know, especially when they have not invested in it. That’s why they call it illegal mining.

“So, people just think that since they have the opportunity of having these minerals in their backyard, they can just go and get some equipment here and start digging and they will be able to get lead, zinc, precious metals and all that have you, including lithium and the rest of that, and people sell them.

“In the process of a rush for that, that’s where you now have a lot of criminals that go and hide under that, and they’ll go and start committing all kinds of crimes. And in Nasarawa, we have so many of them. You know, that’s the reason why we came up with that idea, with that deal, that whoever is processed with mining in Nasarawa should also be processed in Nasarawa State. Those are the kinds of things that we have done…

“I mean, every part of the country, the Governor of Zamfara mentioned that one of the most difficult areas to go is the area where there is gold mining, and there are all kinds of speculations about those sites where they see helicopters coming to the site from all over, knows where, you know, and those kinds of things.

“You know, the moment we say there is, all these licenses are going to be drawn, then we can now take a decision to say that we can send some kind of technology in those kinds of areas, because today, you have all this equipment that can carry a bomb to go and bomb a particular place, and not man, whatsoever.

“So, at the moment, if somebody has a license, a legitimate license, you can go and start bombing them and doing those kinds of things. So that’s the idea. A mining site is usually a criminal site. That’s, in most cases, when I say mining site, I mean illegal mining sites.

He affirmed that some of the people who carried out the criminal activities at various mining sites were given those licenses by the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals. “So, we are saying, withdraw those licenses because right now, all it takes for you to have a license is to go to your community and have the so-called consent letter. If you have a consent letter, that’s a requirement. You know, to go and get an exploration license. And most of those licenses are exploration licenses. They are not even minor licenses. But because it is very difficult for the Ministry to come and monitor whether somebody is exploring or somebody is mining.

“You know, so, you have so many people who are only exploration licenses and they are trying to do. So, we say, no, let us engage. Let the Federal Government and the State Government, in this case, verify those licenses and we can identify. You know something, I assume, if we are working with you somebody says, stop all mining because I have somebody who says, you know, the government will say, stop all mining activities.

“I said, of course, they don’t even know what they are talking about. Because if you stop that, take Benue, for instance, Benue has a cement plant. The cement plant has a quarry. From that quarry, you have to mine. You mine the limestone before you bring it to the plant. So, we can say, for instance, stop mining that. Because that’s a legitimate business that is running. And you have all of them in the country. And that’s the reason why today you don’t import cement. Every one of these cement plants, whether it is, Ashaka, or Obajana, or Ibese, every one of them, you know, has mining sites.” (Nigerian Tribune)

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