FG ‘Hands Over’ 2,200 NSCDC Operatives to Solid Minerals Minister, Dele Alake

The Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development on Thursday received 2,200 Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for tackling illegal miners in Nigeria, under the Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake.

During the press conference held in Abuja, the NSCDC Commandant General, Ahmed Audu expressly conveyed its readiness to work for the protection and security of national assets such as mines in Nigeria.

In response to his speech, Alake announced before journalists that an “inter-ministerial committee” had handed over the NSCDC structure to the Ministry of Solid Minerals without the vote of approval from the National Assembly.

To further publicize the newly formed inter-agency armed group, Alake puts to his official X handle that “The Mines Marshal, as part of the new security architecture, will have their command and control domiciled in the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development (MSMD), with an initial 60 operatives deployed in each state and the FCT.”

Essentially, Dele Aleke would supervise the “Mining Marshals” starting with an initial 60 NCSDC personnel to be drawn from each state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to be part of the marshals, without legislature approval, yet answerable to government appointee.

Due to the low level of public trust in government institutions, citizens have turned to social media to voice their opposition to any unlawful decisions that they believe could compromise national security.

An X user (@Freedolution_Now) wrote, “This is alien to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended. This creation seeks to usurp the role of the police as the institution recognized by the law to undertake the task of internal security and protection of government property. Whatever nomenclature you adopt does not matter. This is simply unconstitutional. Period!”

Another X user (@idealist90) wrote “Instead of making our existing security more effective, they’re just arming different people. If security in a country is effective, you don’t need all these multiple security outfits with the same job. Tomorrow now, we will start talking about merging agencies with similar jobs.”

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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