Nigerian Minister wants death penalty for gold smuggling
Gold smugglers in Africa’s largest economy deserve the death penalty, Nigeria’s deputy minister in charge of mining development said.
Uche Ogah, minister of state for mines and steel development, told lawmakers investigating the alleged loss of $9-billion a year to illegal mining of the precious metal, according to media reports Wednesday.
It’s a sector with huge opportunities that could create jobs but it’s “bleeding” because of smugglers, Kelechi Ekugo, Ogah’s aide said, while confirming the minister’s statement on the need for harsher punishments. “It’s important that government put stringent measure against those that are caught to be causing huge economic sabotage to the sector and to the economy,” Ekugo said.
Africa’s largest oil producer has sizeable untapped deposits of metals including gold, gemstones, zinc, iron-ore and lead, but nearly all extraction is done informally on a small-scale basis, according the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative.
Comments
The
functionality
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation