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The National Economic Council (NEC), on Thursday, announced plans to launch a nationwide clampdown on illegal gold mining as part of efforts to protect Nigeria’s natural resources and increase government revenue.
The decision, reached during the 153rd NEC meeting chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, also broadens the mandate of the Council’s Ad-hoc Committee on Crude Oil Theft Prevention and Control, led by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma, to cover illegal mining and mineral smuggling.
Speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting, Uzodinma said the expanded terms of reference demonstrate the government’s commitment to curbing massive revenue losses from unregulated solid mineral activities.
“The National Economic Council Ad-hoc Committee on Crude Oil Theft Prevention and Control, which I chair, presented an interim report today,” Uzodinma said. “NEC received it with satisfaction and expanded our mandate to include solid minerals because our natural resources are being mined and stolen without contributing to national revenue.”
The governor noted that the committee would work with the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), and security agencies to combat gold smuggling, illegal quarrying, and unregulated mineral exports.
Nigeria’s illegal mining industry, particularly in gold, lithium, and other high-value minerals, has grown into a multibillion-naira shadow economy. NEITI estimates that the country loses more than $9 billion annually to illicit extraction and smuggling, with criminal syndicates and armed groups exploiting weak regulation and limited enforcement capacity.
The ad-hoc committee was initially established in August 2022 under former President Muhammadu Buhari to tackle crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism. President Bola Tinubu reconstituted the committee in December 2023 amid falling oil output and foreign exchange shortages.
Uzodinma said the expanded mandate aims to integrate solid minerals protection into the broader national resource security framework used in the oil sector.
“We have done well in securing oil installations,” he stated. “Now, the same coordinated approach will be applied to the solid minerals sector to prevent the theft of our national wealth.”
The committee is expected to present its first progress report on the new mandate at the next NEC meeting scheduled for November.
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