Zamfara state governor Bello Matawalle on Friday said the federal government’s proposed legal framework on mining would end banditry in the state.
Matawalle in a statement by his director-general on media, public enlightenment and communication, Malam Yusuf Idris, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for setting up the committee.
The 14-member National Task Force Committee was set up to draft a legal framework that would guide mining activities in the country.
The committee, chaired by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd.) was inaugurated on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to the governor, the legal framework, when fully developed, would be most beneficial to the government and people of Zamfara state.
“It will be a pacesetter in the right direction that provides a lasting solution to the activities of armed bandits, kidnappers and other heinous crimes being perpetrated in the state.
“There is the need for the federal government to draft a mining legal framework in order to have control and guiding rules and regulations as against the crude way many of the locals are put at life threatening risks with zero or very little benefit coming to them,” Matawalle said.
The governor recalled several pleas he made at different fora for positive, practical and workable measures to regulate mining activities in the country with particular reference to Zamfara state.
He said he was surprised at the manner in which big foreign and indigenous companies and their owners, siphoned mineral resources of the state without any benefits to the government and/or the people.
