WHAT does the Federal Government have against gold and other solid minerals? We are wondering again because there are at least two major reasons that should elicit government’s interest in these minerals that have illegally been plundered for decades – they are great sources of income; their illegal mining annually leads to deaths of hundreds of children, over 400 in Zamfara alone since 2010.

A former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Linus Awute,  has said Nigeria lost $50 billion (about N8 trillion) through illegal mining and exportation of unprocessed gold, in the last two years. He did not give the estimate of other solid minerals that are illegally mined.

“What the country loses to illegal mining is tremendous. The amount of gold that left this country because of the illegal mining activities is more than $50 billion in the last two years. The amount of unprocessed gold that has left this country through the neighbouring countries, Ghana in particular, and being processed in Ashanti gold is enormous,” Awute said at the Nigerian-Brazil Investment forum in Abuja.

Awute, an erudite civil servant, appointed a federal permanent secretary in 2008, and who had served in that capacity in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence, and Ministry of Health, Ministry of Mines before his current posting to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, should know.

The annual federal budget in the last two years was about N8 trillion, meaning that gold stolen from Nigeria could solely fund the budget. The plundering over the years could have been understated.

Government’s proposed expenditure in 2014 is N4.64 trillion, it was N4.92 trillion in 2013 and N4.77 trillion in 2012. Lost gold resources could have funded two years’ budgets without revenue challenges.

Other solid minerals like iron ore abound in Konkosso, and feldspar (for glass making) in Borgu, both in Niger State. Tantalite, an element for mobile phone technology is in Hayin Kanwa, near Zaria, Kaduna State, and tourmaline, used in making jewellery is mined in Olode, Oyo State.

The country’s gold belt spreads through different parts of Nigeria, and its illegal mining accounts for lead poisoning that has killed more than 400 children in Zamfara State since 2010. More are still at risk.

Nigeria, once the world’s largest exporter of columbite and the world’s sixth largest tin ore producer, has abandoned solid minerals to illegal miners.  An estimated 10,000 illegal miners operate in Zamfara alone. They ruin the environment, plunder the nation’s wealth and cause death of many.

It is time the authorities halted illegal mining, stopped the deaths, and harnessed the resources for national development.