The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has warned that criminal networks are taking advantage of flaws in the mining industry to finance other illicit operations, and it has connected unlawful mining and the theft of mineral resources to an increase in organised crime and instability in Nigeria.
The networks of financiers, mineral purchasers, compromised public officials, and other beneficiaries behind the operations must be dismantled in order to combat unlawful mining, according to EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede.
He gave a keynote speech at a capacity-building workshop and public lecture hosted by the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies in collaboration with the Human and Environmental Development Agenda in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Tuesday.
“There is a close connection between resource theft and insecurity. From an enforcement perspective, any economic activity that operates substantially outside regulation creates opportunities for criminal interests,” Olukoyede said.
He explained that illegal mining creates opportunities for extortion, smuggling, violence and territorial disputes, while proceeds from the activities could also finance other forms of criminality.
“They can include extortion, smuggling, violence, competition over territory and the financing of other forms of criminality. This is why we must stop looking at illegal mining only as a licensing problem,” he added.
The EFCC chairman disclosed that the commission recorded 52 illegal mining cases between October 2023 and July 2026 and secured the forfeiture of 102 tonnes of solid minerals through its enforcement activities.
According to him, investigations have exposed sophisticated networks involving local and international players, with different individuals responsible for financing operations, extracting minerals, arranging transportation, facilitating documentation and purchasing illegally obtained resources.
He said the commission’s strategy was to follow the financial transactions behind illegal mining and identify those benefiting from the proceeds.
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“Therefore, dealing with illegal mining involves breaking an impregnable chain of fraudulent actors: young men carrying shovels, their financiers, buyers of the minerals, compromised officials facilitating the operation, beneficiaries from the proceeds and other actors.
“A serious enforcement strategy must move from the pit to the purse,” Olukoyede emphasised.
The EFCC boss clarified that the commission was not responsible for regulating the mining sector or issuing mining licences, explaining that its intervention focused on suspected corruption, fraud, money laundering, illicit financial flows and criminal proceeds.
He said financial investigations were critical because proceeds from illegally extracted minerals eventually entered the financial system through payments, bank accounts, business transactions and asset acquisitions.
Olukoyede also warned that public officials who abused their positions to facilitate illegal mining, manipulate licences or launder proceeds from mineral theft would not be spared.
