By Juliana Francis
The Commander of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mining Marshals Assistant Commandant Attah John Onoja, has said that illegal mining has grown from a mere economic offence into one of the quiet engines funding insecurity across Nigeria.
Onoja, a lead guest speaker at the 8th edition of the NSCDC Lagos PR Clinic, held in Ikeja and organised by the NSCDC Lagos State Command in collaboration with Halogen Group, under the theme “Collaborative Security as a Paradigm for Mining Security,” told stakeholders in Lagos on Thursday, 17th September, as he called for a united front between security agencies, communities, and the private sector to choke off the criminal networks behind the trade.
Some important dignitaries at the event included the State Commandant of NSCDC Lagos, Adedotun Sunday Keshinro, management staff of Halogen Group, the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Solid Minerals, Professor Adedeji Oyenuga of the Department of Sociology at Lagos State University, heads of security and professional associations and members of the press.
According to Onoja, “Illegal mining is not just a mining offence; it is a complex national security crime that funds insecurity, degrades our environment, robs our nation of revenue, and exploits vulnerable communities, just as no single agency can defeat it alone, or all by itself.”
He urged journalists and public relations professionals to reframe the public’s understanding of the problem.
“Illegal mining must be reported not just as an economic crime, but as a threat to national security,” he said, describing the media as “the critical fourth pillar” of the fight, alongside communities, the private sector and government agencies.
He drew a direct line between illicit mining proceeds and the financing of armed criminality in the country.
He added: “Compromising Nigeria’s mining security on the altar of personal gains inversely fuels insecurity in Nigeria.”
He argued that when mining is carried out lawfully, government earns its due revenue and can properly monitor how mining companies use their proceeds, “thereby stemming the problem of terrorism sponsorship and related crimes.”
While presenting a short history of the unit he commands, he explained that the Mining Marshals are a specialised federal security initiative established in March 2024 to combat “the growing menace of illegal mining in Nigeria” at a time when the country was under pressure to diversify its economy away from oil.
He revealed that the Commandant-General, weighing that national reality against the NSCDC’s core mandate, responded to a call from the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, and the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Henry Dele Alake, to kickstart the new outfit.
According to Onoja, the results since then have been significant.
His words: “From March 2024 till date, we have made several arrests, recovered over 100 illegal mining sites, restored them to legitimate investors, and several suspects are currently facing prosecution.”
He described the unit’s posture toward compromise in blunt terms, which is “zero tolerance for compromise”, which he said is “compelling traffic of compliance on the doorsteps of the regulatory agencies.”
Onoja commended the Lagos State Commandant, Mr Adedotun Sunday Keshinro, for sustaining the PR Clinic as a platform for dialogue and for sustaining the intellectual platform that brings operational realities to public discourse.
He stressed that the theme was “timely, and at the heart of what we do daily as Mining Marshals.”
Central to Onoja’s address was what he called the Commandant-General’s collaborative policy, distilled into “3Cs”: Collaboration, Cooperation and Coordination, which he said has been “tremendously helpful to the operations of the Mining Marshals from inception till date.”
He was candid about the unit’s early struggles. “When we started, the reality was stark,” he recalled. “Enforcement was fragmented, and information was siloed. Illegal operators took advantage of these gaps and plundered the land so badly as to fuel insecurity.”
Out of that experience, he said, “collaborative security became not just a slogan but our operating system.”
Onoja said the most effective security is community-driven, crediting the unit’s biggest wins to tip-offs from residents.
“Our greatest successes have come from credible community tips,” he said. “When host communities see themselves as partners and beneficiaries of legal mining, illegal mining loses its social base.”
He singled out Halogen Group, the Clinic’s co-host, as “a major stakeholder injecting massive technology into Nigeria’s private security architecture.”
Government alone, he argued, cannot secure the country’s vast mining corridors without private technology, risk intelligence and security expertise.
“The private sector is not just a stakeholder; it is a force multiplier,” he said, adding that the Mining Marshals already deploy technology in partnership with private players and expect to work more closely with Halogen “in no distant time.”
Onoja described close coordination with the NSCDC’s parent structure, which he said is statutorily mandated to protect Critical National Assets and Infrastructure, as well as with the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development for technical and regulatory intelligence, and with the military, police and Department of State Services “where crimes intersect,” and with the judiciary for prosecutions.
He explained that the collaborative approach has paid off over the past two years, pointing to a rise in successful operations, the sealing of illegal sites, ongoing prosecutions, and, in his words, the restoration of “investor confidence in the sector.”
He further stated that the cumulative effect is that mining “is now returning to being an orderly, revenue-generating sector for Nigeria.”
He, however, cautioned that the fight was far from over.
“Challenges remain from the vastness of our terrain to the sophistication of illegal networks,” he said, framing the PR Clinic itself as part of the answer. “We need to move from collaborative security as an operational tactic to collaborative security as a national paradigm. We must share data better, communicate faster, and speak with one voice to the public.”
He also issued a pointed warning against agencies that talk collaboration in public while working at cross purposes in the field.
“We must not sing discordant tunes on the fight against illegal mining,” Onoja said. “We must not profess collaboration in the ears of the media and on the faces of newspapers, while doing something different in the field. We must not allow illegal miners, and those who are waiting for Nigeria to fail, to exploit the cracks in our walls.”
Turning to economic theory, Onoja invoked the concept of the “resource curse”, the phenomenon in which countries rich in natural resources fail to translate that wealth into economic growth.
He argued that without deliberate policy to harness resources for development, “such resources become a curse rather than a blessing,” and cast the government’s current push, anchored on collaborative mining security, as an effort to steer Nigeria away from that fate and toward genuine economic growth and development. #Securitynewsalert.com
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