The Miners Association of Nigeria has said that banning mining activities in the country will not solve insecurity. The association made this known in a statement jointly signed by its national president, Dele Ayankale, and national secretary, Sulaiman Liman, on Monday.
Their reaction followed the recent call by the Northern States Governors’ Forum for a six-month suspension of mining activities after the abduction of school children and killings in some states. The governors had linked illegal mining to insecurity and said the suspension would give room for a review of mining licences with input from state governments.
However, the Miners Association of Nigeria insisted that legal mining is not responsible for insecurity, arguing that only illegal operators have been tied to terrorism and criminal networks. The group warned that the ban would punish legitimate miners and create more opportunities for illegal operators to thrive.
Mr Ayankale explained that Nigeria had tried similar measures in the past without success. He cited the 2019 ban on mining in Zamfara State as an example where “the negatives outweigh the positives,” noting that insecurity increased instead of reducing. According to him, banditry, kidnappings, and terrorism grew in Zamfara and later spread to Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, and Kebbi States.
“It is the disorderly, illegal mining that is conducted without licences and government regulations and control that practices money laundering and fuels insecurity. A clear distinction must be made between legal and illegal mining. Therefore, stigmatising mining as the cause of insecurity is a misnomer,” he said.
He added that the proposed ban would be unfair to legal miners and their workers and could worsen unemployment, poverty, and insecurity. The association argued that the true victims of such suspensions are genuine investors, while illegal miners linked to terrorist groups would still gain access to minerals due to weak enforcement capacity.
“Unfettered access of illegal miners to the mineral resources in a banned mining location offers incentives and empowerment to criminals as they exchange the minerals for arms and ammunition to improve their heinous activities,” he said.
The Miners Association warned that the suspension could also damage the Federal Government’s efforts to attract investments into the solid minerals sector. It said this would affect reforms that seek to reduce bottlenecks and improve Nigeria’s global competitiveness in mining.
Mr Ayankale said members of the association actively cooperate with security agencies to protect their mining areas, stressing that legal operators follow laid-down standards for safe and environmentally responsible mining.
According to him, MAN members help rural communities through the statutory Community Development Agreement, which supports infrastructure development and contributes to local economies.
“Therefore, the call by our northern governors and elders to ban mining activities, at a time when the nation has started welcoming pockets of investments, is not only unfortunate, but highly unpatriotic,” he stated.
He advised the governors to fund and strengthen the Mining Marshals and other official structures fighting illegal mining instead of pushing for a nationwide ban. He also said that calling for revalidation of mining licences sounded like a demand for resource control.
Mr Ayankale argued that this contradicted the Constitution, which places mineral resource management on the Exclusive Legislative List. He urged the president to consider that suspending mining could create more recruits for terrorist groups, as job losses and economic hardship might push more people into crime.
