The State of Osun will in no distant time be free from the scourge of illegal mining. This is because efforts geared towards eradicating the menace that costs both government and the public is by the day yielding positive results. Findings have revealed that the government with several interventions has restored sanity into the process of exploring mineral resources in the state, curbed environmental degradation and importantly increase the state’s Internally Generated Revenue.
In the new initiative revealed over the weekend, the state government of Osun through Chams Plc, a leading technology company said it has taken biometric details of over 5,000 miners in several mining communities across the state.
The Osun government said with about 5,000 miners now registered biometrically with the state, adequate security can now be guaranteed around mining host communities. According to the government, the registration, though continuous, has given the state adequate database structure that will create opportunities for artisanal miners, saying with the database, government will organise the artisanal miners into Cooperatives for empowerment.
Speaking to journalists, some residents of the state have lauded the government for the special designated initiative in curbing the activities of illegal miners which in one way or the other do cause havoc to the environment. They held that the new procedure will make government’s mining inspectors to be of immense help to the miners as well as the communities involved to ensure both parties benefit from the process.
In the past years, the sector has experienced all sort of uncoordinated activities as many illegal miners operate without government regulation. This instigated the government to employ services of mining experts with the aim of bringing sanity into the sector believed to have been neglected.
Speaking with newsmen, Special Adviser to the Governor on Forestry, Natural and Mineral Resources, Mr. Babatunde Ajilore, with his point buttressed by the Project Manager, Dr Abiodun Oladipo said that the government had painstakingly restored orderliness and put in place proper regulatory measure to curb illegal mining in the state.
He said government’s effort to know those behind mining activities in the state was borne out of its determination to protect lives and property of the residents against environmental degradation and as well raise the revenue bar of the state.
