FG must provide scheme to accommodate illegal miners —Bamidele

Babatunde Bamidele is an industrial engineer with international experience in areas such as Machinery Pre-Shipment Inspection and Import Documentation from Shanghai, China and Kowloon, Hongkong and Technology Identification from London, England. He is into solid mineral mining and processing. TAIWO OLANREWAJU brings excerpts of interaction with him.

Do you see any prospect for Nigeria to benefit from your industry as an alternative source of income for the nation?

Nigeria has a lot to benefit from the solid mineral resources in the country , I can say without fear of contradiction that there is hardly any mineral resource that is available anywhere in the world that is not available in Nigeria. I think with the mining cadastre system backed with the Mineral Act of 2007, the Federal Government has done its part, because this has given investors adequate security of tenor. However, the regulatory authorities need to be transparent in their approach and oversight. The country will benefit immensely from the industry.

But we hear of Illegal miners, how can government deal with this menace?

These so called illegal miners exist as a matter of necessity. Most of the miners see what they do as a means of livelihood and until government provides alternative source of livelihood for these people, the fight against illegal mining will be difficult, because we have them in thousands. My advice is that government should introduce a scheme to accommodate these illegal miners, train them on modern ways of mining, just the way farmers are trained on modern ways of farming. Take it or leave it, these Illegal miners have become proficient in what they do, accommodating them and bringing them on board as legitimate miners, with appropriate licence will allow government enjoy their existence in the industry. I am not trying to justify the illegality of what they do but my point is that they are created by the spate of poverty in the nation, and government must find a way of accommodating them so as to be productive to the society.

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Are you suggesting that the government should issue licences to illegal miners?

Yes, that is exactly my suggestion. The cost of obtaining the licence should be made affordable and process transparent, I repeat, transparent. I know why I’m saying this. When the process is transparent and liberal, artisanal miners would be able to access the licence and they would operate legally.

How did you come into mining as a vocation?

I started my career as an Industrial Engineer in Nigeria Industrial Development Bank and became investment officer whose duty was to appraise industrial projects. I appraised a mining project around Kwara/Kogi corridor in 1992 and from there I developed interest. So in 1998, I promoted a mining project around Oke-Ogun axis of Oyo State, specifically Alagutan/Igbeti axis, bearing in mind that I was an investment banker/ industrial engineer. I was able to let my experience bear on the running of the company and today we give glory to Almighty God.

What are the problems associated with your work as a miner?

I will not take them as problems but rather as challenges and they are surmountable. One of it is the various regulations by government agencies on taxes and operations. Aside this, we have the perception of host communities who think that the mineral deposits in their domain belong to them thereby coming to ask for their share in one form or the other and if not well managed it, can create a lot of crisis. I think government should find a way of controlling this so that investors are well protected from a hostile community.

What are your suggestions to the government on repositioning the mining and extractive industry?

My first suggestion is that government should invite stakeholders, people who are practical on the job. If government needs true guide on making a head way in the mining and solid mineral sector, it is not the work of professors or academicians. We on the field have been through the reality; we faced challenges and know how it is, so formulating policies about that sector would be best done by us. The bottom line is liberalisation of the solid minerals sector.