Off the wire
• FACTBOX: China's rural work conferences in recent years  • One third of Albanians say households better off in 2016  • Two arrested for selling lethal weapons in Slovenia: Europol  • NATO to conclude exercise Ultimate Sword in Poland  • U.S. stocks open higher as BOJ keeps policy steady  • Berlin represents attack on European cultural identity: Slovak PM  • Oslo tightens security after Berlin attack: report  • Bulgaria's hourly labor cost up 8.4 pct in Q3  • Turkey opens first undersea tunnel linking Istanbul's Asian, European parts  • Kenya seizes ivory destined for Colombia  
You are here: 　 Home

Nigeria to scale up mining surveillance: minister

Xinhua, December 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

Nigeria will scale up mining surveillance in all 36 states to ensure productivity, Minister of Mines and Steel Development Kayode Fayemi has said.

Fayemi on Tuesday told reporters that the government had provided a total of 37 utility vans to ease mobility in each of the states, enhance in-field analysis and facilitate effective discharge of mines inspectorate services across the West African country.

He said this would help mining officers to closely monitor artisanal and small-scale mining operations, as well as ensure closer surveillance of the mines fields to identify and curb illegal mining activities.

"From January next year, we expect to start seeing the positive impact of this investment in terms of increased revenue generation, reduction in the number of illegal mining incidences," the official said, adding a national blueprint has been designed to address some of the issues affecting the mining sector in Africa's most populous country.

Mining in Nigeria has long been plagued by illegal activities of miners, inadequate security, poor infrastructural development, and funding and slow reform implementation.

In 2009, illegal gold mining activities in the northwestern state of Zamfara caused the death of more than 400 children. Endit