“We Won’t Bow to Blackmail” – Minister Alake Vows Sustained Crackdown on Illegal Mining
The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, has affirmed that the Federal Government remains resolute in its crackdown on illegal mining activities across the country, despite growing blackmail, smear campaigns, and resistance from those benefiting from the illicit trade.
Speaking at a recent forum, Alake described the greatest challenges confronting Nigeria’s mining sector as external and orchestrated by vested interests fighting against the government’s reforms.
“The challenges that I’ve seen, in a nutshell, are not administrative at all, they are external,” he stated.
“First, on the security, the efforts that we’ve made so far in curbing or stemming the tide of insecurity and illegal mining operations is facing serious pushback from those who are benefiting from the nefarious activities.”
Alake revealed that the government’s introduction of mine marshals—a special unit tasked with combating illegal mining—has led to backlash, including unfounded bribery allegations against the unit’s leadership.
“In fact, some came to say that the leader of the mine marshals is asking them for bribe and that they’ve paid him bribe,” he said.
“I said, ‘Wow, this is what I’ve been looking for. Please give me the evidence.’
One of them said he was coming back the following day with the evidence. That was six months ago. I’m yet to see him.”
The minister also recounted how the smear campaign extended to the media, with one television station publicly apologizing after airing false claims against the mine marshals’ leader.
“At some point, the man came to me to say one medium blackmailed him. I said, ‘Well, did you do it?’ He said, no, he didn’t do it. I said, okay, get a lawyer to sue that medium. And he did. Forty-eight hours later, that same medium, a TV station, put up a public apology because they were paid to do the hatchet job.”
Alake lamented the lack of ethical journalism in some quarters, saying, “Like every profession in this degeneration, also in journalism, there’s no balancing of reportage.”
He, however, declared that neither blackmail nor inducement will derail the ministry’s reforms, stressing that the administration is backed by President Bola Tinubu’s clear stance on accountability and enforcement.
“Our hands are on the plough and there’s no looking back. I am not going to remove anybody from the mine marshals except I see concrete evidence of malfeasance or misdemeanor,” Alake said.
“But I am one person that never buckles under any blackmail. No inducement can sway me at all. So we are confronting that challenge as well.”
The minister reaffirmed the government’s unwavering commitment to sanitizing the solid minerals sector and restoring order to one of Nigeria’s most critical but underregulated industries. Read More
