The Yobe and Adamawa state governments have stepped up security measures to check violent crimes associated with illegal mining in some of their states’ rural communities.
These measures may not be unconnected with the allegations that the quest for solid minerals such as gold was responsible for banditry and insurgency in some parts of the country.
An investigation carried out by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) revealed that there are more than 27 solid minerals in different parts of Yobe, including gold, limestone, gypsum, trona, diatomite, granite and kaolin, while Adamawa has more than 26 solid minerals, such as gold, limestone, gypsum, trona, diatomite, granite and kaolin, in commercial deposits.
Yobe Governor Mai Mala Buni’s special adviser on security matters, Dahiru Abdulsalam, told NAN that the state had deployed marshals in Gulani and Gujba local government areas to tackle illegal mining.
Mr Abdulsalam, a retired brigadier-general, said the newly recruited mining marshals were drawn from the police, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and the State Security Service (SSS).
