FG bans mining at Shiroro site

The Federal Government has pledged to avenge the murder of 12 miners shot to death by bandits at Unguwar Magro Village of Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.

The government also said security agencies are on the trail of the bandits and will soon bring them to face the wrath of the law.

Meanwhile, no form of mining will be allowed to occur at the scene of the attack until security agencies have concluded investigations into the attack.

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, disclosed these measures in a statement.

Alake, mourning the brutal killings of innocent workers at the mining site, assured that security agencies will not rest until mines across the country are safe from the incursion of bandits and criminal elements seeking to take possession of mineral-rich areas for illegal mining by violence.

The statement was signed by the minister’s Special Assistant on Media, Segun Tomori, on Thursday in Abuja.

The minister said the mining marshals are working with intelligence units and other security agencies to make the recent attack a special case of collaboration of all agencies to track the trail and pattern of operations of the bandits suspected to have infiltrated Shiroro local government from neighbouring states.

“There is a new sheriff in town, and combating banditry in the mining sector is a mandate we are taking seriously. Those who think they can invade villages and kill innocent people to make way for illegal mining of their rich minerals will be shocked to discover that it is no longer business as usual.

“With the mining marshals working with the intelligence community, we shall fish out these hoodlums and put their hands to the fire.”

Alake said preliminary reports also fingered non-Nigerians active in the mining businesses as funders of such operations, warning that anyone found would be prosecuted for economic sabotage and waging war against the Nigerian State.

He warned embassies in Nigeria to monitor the activities of their nationals in the mining sector as allegations of criminal conduct pose serious threats to the bilateral harmony between Nigeria and other countries in the world.

On Wednesday, suspected terrorists, locally dubbed as bandits, attacked Unguwar Magero village in Gurmana ward of Shiroro Local Government Area, Niger State, killing about 13 people at a local mining site.

The gunmen reportedly found the miners at the site and immediately opened fire, leaving a trail of death.