By Samuel Ike,
Abuja

The Commander of the Mining Marshals of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr John Attah Onoja, has called for stronger collaboration with the Defence Correspondents Association of Nigeria (DECAN) to combat illegal mining and disrupt the illicit financial networks sustaining banditry, kidnapping and terrorism in the country.
Onoja made the call on Thursday in Abuja when members of DECAN, led by its President, Mr Odita Sunday, paid a courtesy visit to the Mining Marshals’ headquarters.
He said the specialised operation would sustain its intelligence-led campaign against illegal mining cartels, stressing that the objective was not only to protect Nigeria’s mineral resources but also to weaken criminal networks that may benefit financially from illicit mining activities.
According to him, illegal mining has evolved beyond an economic and environmental challenge and now poses serious national security concerns because proceeds from illicit mineral exploitation can potentially provide funding for criminal and terrorist groups.
“It is not necessarily about picking up weapons and fighting bandits or kidnappers. We must ask: how do the people in those forests feed? How do they get money?” Onoja said.
He explained that disrupting the flow of illicit funds to criminal groups would reduce their operational capacity and make banditry, kidnapping and terrorism less financially attractive.
“We want to make criminality less lucrative. You can only make it less lucrative if the illicit flow of finances to terrorist groups is disrupted,” he said.
Onoja said the Mining Marshals had adopted an intelligence-driven approach involving the identification, arrest, investigation and prosecution of suspected offenders, with the aim of ensuring that those involved in illegal mining faced the full weight of the law.
He added that the operation would continue to maintain a strategic presence in mining communities as part of its deterrence strategy, despite challenges relating to manpower, logistics and operational resources.
The commander also identified alleged collusion between some compromised officials and illegal miners as one of the major obstacles to efforts to sanitise the mining sector.
“The major bottleneck we face today is not necessarily the number of illegal miners out there, but the number of compromised officials of institutions and agencies that are supposed to be partners in the fight against illegal mining,” he said.
Onoja further alleged that some compromised officials had resorted to blackmail and petitions against Mining Marshals in an attempt to frustrate their operations.
“That is corruption fighting back,” he said, insisting that the campaign against illegal mining must be genuine, deliberate, impartial and consistently enforced.
He urged journalists, particularly defence correspondents, to support the campaign through accurate, balanced and sustained reporting on illegal mining and its wider security implications.
Onoja said the media remained an important partner in efforts to restore sanity to the mining sector, noting that public understanding and informed reporting were essential to the success of the campaign.
“I do not take your role for granted. The sanitised mining sector of our dream will be achieved through collaboration, and the major stakeholder in that collaboration is the media,” he said.
He also urged journalists to assess the performance of the Mining Marshals in the context of the resources available to the operation, stressing that inadequate logistics remained a significant constraint.
Earlier, the President of DECAN, Odita Sunday, said the association recognised the serious security, environmental and economic consequences of illegal mining and commended the Federal Government and the NSCDC for establishing the Mining Marshals.
Odita said illegal mining threatened the environment and national revenue while increasingly assuming a national security dimension, making sustained cooperation among security agencies, government institutions, the media and mining communities necessary.
He assured the Mining Marshals that DECAN would give appropriate attention to their activities while maintaining the principles of professional journalism, accuracy, fairness and national interest.
“As defence correspondents, we understand that effective security operations require not only the commitment of security agencies but also responsible and accurate public communication,” Odita said.
He urged the Mining Marshals to maintain open communication channels with accredited defence correspondents to minimise misinformation, speculation and inaccurate reporting of security operations.
According to him, timely access to verified information would enable journalists to provide the public with a clearer understanding of the dangers associated with illegal mining and the measures being taken to address them.
Odita further proposed stronger professional engagement between DECAN and the Mining Marshals through regular briefings, field visits and other activities designed to improve mutual understanding and strengthen responsible reporting.
He stressed that the fight against illegal mining was a collective responsibility involving security agencies, government institutions, the media, traditional authorities, mining communities and other stakeholders.
The Mining Marshals were established on March 21, 2024, as a specialised NSCDC operation mandated to combat illegal mining and protect Nigeria’s critical mineral resources.