Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
On Thursday, the Lagos State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, or NSCDC, announced that it had discovered an illegal mining site at Ginti in the Ijede axis of Ikorodu, Lagos.
Around 10 a.m., NSCDC agents under the direction of the state commandant, Eweka Okoro, went to the location where three caterpillars believed to have been used by the miners to continue the heinous act were captured.
Abolurin Oluwaseun, the Command’s spokeswoman, said in a statement that some of the miners were apprehended after being accused of engaging in unlawful soil mining from several huge hectares of land.
He claimed that although telephone towers and electricity lines had been installed there to provide millions of Nigerians living in Lagos’ neighboring states with high-quality services, the area had now been transformed into an illegal mining operation.
“The visit was to enforce zero tolerance to all types of vandalism of the Federal, State, and Local Governments’ Critical National Assets and Infrastructure (CNAI) in the nation,”
He claimed that the location was found during a search to thwart the nefarious deed.
“The Command will not rest on its oars to ensure that important national assets and infrastructure of the government are secured, across the country, for illicit mining sites, oil pipelines, telecommunications infrastructure, and other.” Added he.
The Chairman of the Ijede Tipper Ventures, Alhaji Tajudeen Ilesanmi, and some of his members were also met by the Commandant. They were warned to stop the act and that anyone caught doing so going forward would be subject to the full force of the law.
