The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development’s Minister of State, Abubakar Bwari, has said that more than two million Nigerians depend on illegal mining for their livelihood. He said this at a two-day “First National Stakeholders’ Discourse on Opportunities and Challenges of Artisanal Mining in Nigeria’’ on Monday in Abuja.
According to Bwari, most of the miners are poor and unemployed living in rural areas and employing crude methods and household implements to exploit these minerals which they sell to feed their families. “We cannot afford to criminalise their activities and we cannot also fold our arms and watch as they damage the lives of our people and the environment,” he said.
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