The Federal Government has disclosed that the nation has lost an alarming sum of $9 billion to the export of proceeds of illegal mining activities between 2014 and 2015.

This is even as it has approved N987 million for the purchase of 50 Toyota Hilux vehicles at the cost of over N19 million each for deployment towards the monitoring and curbing of illegal mining in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi, made the disclosure at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held in the conference room of the Office of the First Lady in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to Fayemi, the $9 billion loss in the sector was contained in a recent report by the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

The minister said the $9 billion loss was recorded mainly from the illegal export of gold, lead, tin and coal.

He said the approval was sequel to the realisation that the deployment of one vehicle per state could not make significant impact in the monitoring of illegal mining activities.

He said the bulk of the significant increase of 8.97 per cent in the contribution of agriculture and industry to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the third quarter of 2017 as released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday came from mining and quarrying activities.

The Minister added that the council also approved the constitution of Special Mining Surveillance Task Force with the mandate to monitor and curb illegal mining across the country.

He also disclosed that the task force will comprise security personnel deployed from all security agencies including the Nigeria Police, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Department of State Services (DSS), National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA). Further disclosing that the police had established mines police to support the initiative, Fayemi said consequently, a Mines Police Commissioner had been appointed by the Nigeria Police and similar office has also been created in NSCDC.

He also said once illegal mining is put under control, there will be a significant contribution from the sector to the country’s GDP as well as an increase in government royalty and job creation for the teeming populace.

The Minister, who said government’s ultimate goal was to deploy technology to monitor illegal mining, also noted that Federal Government’s initiative on mines and steel development will involve the collaboration of federal and state governments through the setting up Mineral Resources and Environmental Committee as provided for in Mining Act.

He also said the memo presented to the council also included moves to formalise small scale mining and artisan’s mining, which, he said, was preceded by the earlier deposit of N5 billion in the bank to assist small scale miners and artisan miners. He said this would also involve the advent of a cooperative society.

The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, on his part said the council also approved N606.31 million for the payment of the contractor who executed an irrigation project in the FCT.

According to him, the Ajara-Jere irrigation project, which was completed since 2008, was meant to supply water in the FCT from Gurara Dam to lower Usman Dam over a distance of 75 kilometres with three metres diameter pipelines.

He said in the last nine to 10 years since the project was completed, the maintenance of the project had been left in the care of the contractor. However, he said since last year, the government had been working hard to take over the management of the pipelines, which, he said, were strategic in the move to supply water to Abuja.

He said the N606 million approved by FEC would enable the government to pay off the contractor and take over the management of the project by both the personnel of ministry and FCT.

The Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, on his part, said he updated the council on the activities of Presidential Enabling Business Environment Committee (PEBEC) following the recent movement of the country 24 places upward in World Bank doing business report.

He also said the council was updated on second National Action Plan, which, he said, would involve the mobilisation of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on the need to do more and achieve greater success in ease of doing business in Nigeria.

Enelamah also said the plan would include the expansion of the scope of ease of doing business beyond Lagos and Kano to all states of the federation, adding that the move would be aided by an “omnibus bill” before the National Assembly. He described the bill as an all encompassing bill that will address the constraints faced on doing business in Nigeria.

He said PEBEC was given approval to continue with its good work with integrated operationalisation plan on transparency.

He also said a compendium compiled by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and National Export Promotion Council (NEPC) on all incentives available for investors willing to do business in Nigeria was presented to the council.