Nigeria suspends mining in Zamfara state after banditry surges

Nigeria said there are nexus between illegal mining and banditry in Zamfara State and has therefore asked all miners in the state to leave within 48 hours as the government deployed military and police to tighten security.
“The federal government has ordered the suspension of all mining activities in Zamfara State with immediate effect,” said presidential aide Bashir Ahmed in a tweet.
A statement issued by Nigeria’s police chief said the move followed intelligence reports that “clearly established a strong and glaring nexus between the activities of armed bandits and illicit miners”.
In the last few weeks joint operations between security agencies have been launched focusing on the northwestern states of Zamfara, Kaduna and Katsina, as well as the western states of Kogi, and Niger.
Banditry has plagued the northwest for years, particularly around Zamfara state and neighbouring Kaduna state, although the recent spate of kidnappings and killings in the northwest has put the region in the public eye.
The suspension underscores the breakdown of security in a part of the country where the military, police and state security forces have been deployed in recent weeks to tackle criminal gangs behind a spate of killings and kidnappings.
Zamfara is the state worst hit by the uptick of violence that has killed dozens of people since the start of the year. The surge began last year when it prompted the deployment of the air force and 1,000 security personnel to the state.
Security forces in Nigeria, which has Africa’s biggest economy and whose security is central to regional stability, are already stretched tackling a decade-long Islamist insurgency in the northeast and communal fighting between farmers and herders over dwindling land.
Nigeria has largely untapped deposits of minerals including gold, tin and zinc. Some 80 percent of mining in Nigeria is carried out on an artisanal basis and gold in Zamfara is routinely smuggled out of the country illegally to neighbouring Niger and Togo.
“As part of sustained efforts to flush out, and permanently put an end to armed banditry and criminality in Zamfara State, in particular, and the northwest in general, the Nigeria Police Force in collaboration with the Nigerian Military and other security services has commenced ‘Operation Puff-Adder’, which is a full-scale security offensive against the bandits,:" the Police said in a statement.