Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr Olamilekan Adegbite
Following the arrest of 19 illegal foreign miners in Osun and Zamfara states by security operatives, the Federal Government said that the full weight of the law will be applied in prosecuting them.
According to the government, necessary agencies of government have been alerted to apply the full weight of the law in prosecuting the arrested persons, to serve as a deterrent to others.
Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, who stated this during a press briefing in Abuja, said the foreigners are working for Nigerians in high positions and authorities.
According to the minister: “In Osun, 17 foreigners have been apprehended while in Zamfara just two of them. We are taking them to the Federal High Court, the case is being compiled. The people caught in Zamfara have been transferred to the headquarters, their files are being compiled and we sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions so that we can arraign them in court so as to serves as deterrent to others.”
He, however, commended the state governments for instituting the spread and dismissing pressure for the release of the culprits who he said are mostly Chinese.
The minister said his ministry would be working together with state governments, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Ministry of Interior, Chinese embassy and the foreign affairs ministry to checkmate the casualty and keep track of all villains who come into Nigeria and refuses to go back as at when due.
“We may need to work to get the Dubai authorities to ascertain that any gold that is coming into Dubai must have export certificate from Nigeria. We will ensure that the certificate is transmitted electronically such that anywhere you go, the customs check their database to ascertain the gold you are exporting and also sends an electronic certificate to the Dubai government to check and ask for export certificate. If it’s not legal, they will confiscate the gold and we will share the cost of that maybe on a 70, 30 basis as an incentive to them,” he said.
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