By Juliana Francis
The Assistant Commandant, Atta John Onoja, Commander of the Mining Marshals under the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), on Thursday, September 17, disclosed that his unit had recorded a staggering increase in mining revenue since its creation in March 2024, stressing that the anti-illegal mining task force had helped move the country from annual earnings of N6 billion to a projected N80 billion this year.
Onoja disclosed the figures while speaking to journalists in Lagos, where he represented the Corps’ Abuja headquarters 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.
The event was held under the theme, “Collaborative Security as a Paradigm for Mining Security.”
“Before 2024, we were talking about revenue of N6 billion in a year. But now, between 2024 and 2026, we have seen significant increases each year,” Onoja said.
“In 2025, the report we got was N38 billion. In 2026, we are now moving towards N80 billion, and we hope to hit that target too.”
He, however, tempered the figures with a note of realism, stressing that the unit was still operating with limited manpower and equipment.
“We may not have gotten to where we are going, but I think we have done reasonably well within the limits of the resources available to us,” he said.
“That goes to say that as more resources are made available to us, logistics, equipment and technological gadgets- we will do more than we have done.”
Beyond the revenue figures, Onoja pointed to a wave of enforcement operations that he said had dismantled illegal mining and banditry strongholds across the country, resulting in numerous arrests and several convictions, with more trials still ongoing.
He argued that the impact went beyond the number of arrests, pointing to a shift in behaviour among legitimate operators who now wanted to stay clearly on the right side of the law.
“The compliance that other industry players are beginning to demonstrate is also part of our achievements, because they do not want to be arrested in the same way other illegal miners have been arrested,” he said.
Onoja also credited the Mining Marshals with giving host communities more leverage over mining companies through Community Development Agreements (CDAs), which he said had replaced what was previously a lawless free-for-all in the sector.
“Before, it was like a free-for-all. It was survival of the fittest. If you could recruit people for us, you could go into any site and mine. But today, it is no longer like that,” he said.
He praised the leadership of the NSCDC Commandant General, Professor Ahmed Abubakar Audi, saying the Corps was “meeting its core mandate of protecting critical national assets and infrastructure, fighting industrial espionage and economic sabotage in all forms.”
He added that government assurances suggested that the Mining Marshals would soon be further strengthened.
Pressed on allegations that inflation, powerful Nigerians and politicians were fuelling insecurity linked to illegal mining, Onoja deflected the specifics back to the journalists but insisted that the unit did not play favourites.
“We don’t have any Nigerians that we want to categorise as being bigger than another or more important than another. All Nigerians must obey the law,” he said.
“So, if anybody is committing illegal mining, it is illegal mining, irrespective of your class, position or portfolio.”
Asked directly about allegations raised at the Senate and, more recently, linked to a lawmaker representing Bauchi, that a sitting senator was operating an illegal mining site, Onoja said he had no knowledge of the specific claim but insisted that no petition went uninvestigated.
“This allegation you are talking about, I am not aware of it,” he said.
“What I want to assure you is that there is no type of petition or allegation that we don’t investigate, and there is no class of Nigerian that we don’t investigate.”
He urged journalists and members of the public to formally report such cases rather than rely on rumours.
“We are not mysterious people; we are human beings. What we did not see or what we did not hear, we cannot act on,” he said.
“So, when you hear something, you can channel it to us. If you channel it to us, we will find out, investigate and do the needful.”
