News Investigators/ Nasarawa State Government has cautioned mining companies against fraudulent practices capable of causing chaos and insecurity in communities in the state.
Emmanuel Akabe, acting governor of the state, said this to newsmen on Wednesday in Lafia, while reacting to an ongoing dispute involving a lithium mining company.
The company, Timadix Geomin Consult Limited, was said to be purportedly operating illegally in some communities in Kokona Local Government Area of the state, without proper documentation.
Mr Akabe said that the committee set up by the state government on the matter, discovered some discrepancies in documents, especially signatures of the land owners on the consent letters submitted by the company to the Nigeria Mining Office, Abuja, believed to be falsified
According to Mr Akabe, the Mining Cadastre Office had written a letter to Governor Abdullahi Sule, on Nov. 11, 2024, seeking clarification on the shutting down of mining sites operated by the company in Kokona LGA.
He said that committee set up by the the governor was headed by the deputy governor with traditional rulers, district heads, the chairman of Kokona LGA, state assembly member and other stakeholders from the area as members.
He said the committee had several meetings where they invited all those whose names appeared on the consent letters submitted by the company to obtain a mining license.
According to Mr Akabe, the committee’s report identified cases of falsification as some of the persons whose names appeared on the consent letters denied signing the letters.
“The report of the committee, which was communicated to the Mining Cadastre Office showed that Timadix did not obtain the consent letters through the proper channels.
“All the royal fathers from the areas denied ever signing any consent letters for Timadix and that the signatures on the letters were not theirs,” he said.
He said that while the state welcome investors to the mining sectors in the state, it advised them to follow due process to avoid embarrassing situations.
“As a state, we are investigating further to identify all those involved in this fraudulent practice and bring them to book,” he said.
He reiterated that the government was not against anyone coming to do business in Nasarawa State.
“However, let’s do it properly to avoid a situation where our state will be turned into a security risk for the people.
“We had a similar situation in Endo Hills in Nasarawa Udege, where three Chinese companies were clashing over mining sites.
“When the state government got to know about it, it was discovered that they were mining lithium illegally and had carted away over N16 billion worth of lithium within four months, without remitting a dime to either the Federal Government or Nasarawa State,” he said.
The acting governor noted that although mining was on the exclusive list, strictly under the purvey of the Federal Government, the land is in Nasarawa State and the governor had the responsibility to protect the people.
“We are saying that if you want to come and mine and devastate the land, the community must be protected.
“As a government, we are ready to support anyone willing to mine in the state, but we must agree; what is your Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), what is your Community Development Agreement (CDA), how do we reclaim our land?
“All these must be properly articulated. However, these guys are not doing it; they just come with mining licenses, take all they want and get out of the place.
“No responsible government will sit and watch them without taking action,” he added.
Meanwhile, Tim Eldon, the Managing Director of Timadix Geomin Consult, refuted the claims by the Nasarawa State Government.
He insisted that the company had obtained all necessary licenses and followed proper procedures before commencing operations.
NAN