By Ayodele Oni
As part of efforts to curb illegal mining in Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) has put on watch list bank accounts. The Commission will also recover assets and prosecute financiers and beneficiaries of illegal mining.
It believes that the move will dismantle the financial networks sustaining the illicit trade in Nigeria’s mineral resources.
The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, assured that the Commission would intensify financial investigations beyond arrests at illegal mining sites to identify those funding operations, purchasing illegally extracted minerals and benefiting from the proceeds.
Olukoyede disclosed this on Tuesday while delivering a keynote address at a public lecture and capacity-building workshop organised by the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies and the Human and Environmental Development Agenda in Ilorin, Kwara State.
He explained that illegal mining was sustained by organised criminal networks involving financiers, mineral buyers, transporters, individuals providing fraudulent documentation and public officials who compromised their positions to facilitate the activities.
According to him, arresting individuals carrying out excavation activities would not effectively address the problem without investigating the financial structures supporting the operations.
“Therefore, dealing with illegal mining involves breaking an impregnable chain of fraudulent actors: young men carrying shovels, their financiers, buyers of the minerals, compromised officials facilitating the operation, beneficiaries from the proceeds and other actors.”
The EFCC Chairman pointed out that the Commission would prioritise tracing proceeds generated from illegal mining through bank accounts, business transactions, payments and asset acquisitions.
He noted that financial investigations were essential to identifying the individuals and organisations benefiting from the illegal exploitation of the country’s mineral resources.
Olukoyede disclosed that the commission recorded 52 illegal mining cases between October 2023 and July 2026, resulting in the forfeiture of 102 tonnes of solid minerals.
He, however, clarified that the EFCC was not responsible for regulating the mining sector or issuing mining licences, stressing that its mandate covered suspected corruption, fraud, money laundering, illicit financial flows and proceeds of criminal activities.
The anti-graft agency boss also warned that illegal mining has implications beyond economic losses, linking the activities to insecurity, extortion, smuggling, violence and territorial disputes in affected communities.
“Once criminal interests begin to control economic activity in a community, the consequences can extend far beyond lost royalties,” he cautioned.
He warned that public officials found facilitating illegal mining through fraudulent licensing arrangements, protection of criminal operators or laundering of proceeds would also face investigation and prosecution.
Olukoyede called for stronger collaboration among mining regulators, financial intelligence institutions, law enforcement agencies, customs authorities and revenue agencies to improve intelligence sharing and coordinated investigations.
He also urged traditional rulers, community associations, youth organisations and civil society groups to establish channels for reporting suspicious mining activities.
The EFCC chairman reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to tracing illicit funds, recovering criminal assets and prosecuting those involved in financing and benefiting from illegal mining, insisting that the country’s mineral wealth should serve the interests of Nigerians rather than criminal networks.
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