The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has ordered marshals drawn from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, to fish out illegal miners and all those who flout the nation’s mining laws.
Alake gave the order while inaugurating the first batch of marshals to combat illegal mining.
He said 60 marshals had been specially trained and deployed to the 36 states across the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
According to him, the newly activated Mining Marshal Corp, which currently has 2,220 personnel, is an inter-agency security outfit established to secure the mining environment.
He noted that plans were underway for other sister security agencies to integrate their officers into the outfit structure across the country for a robust output.
He said the ministry plays a pivotal role in supporting the operations of the mine marshals to ensure their success.
He said effective intelligence gathering through the mines inspectorate, harnessing valid data of troubled mining areas, and giving the requisite directives for precise operations were necessary factors for the coordination of the activities of the marshals.
