President Bola Tinubu has stated that illegal mining is the major source of terrorism funding in Nigeria and Africa at large.
The president disclosed this on Monday, April 22, at the opening ceremony of a two-day African High-Level Meeting on Counter-terrorism, hosted by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in Abuja.
He emphasized that it is money from other places that have been fuelling illegal mining in Africa, which has in turn been funding terrorism.
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According to him, illegal mining, which has robbed countries on the continent of the natural resources that the government ought to have been deployed to meet their national needs is now being hijacked by terrorist groups in exchange for foreign cash, which is in turn used to buy more arms and ammunition.
“While we seek to address the root causes of terrorism, we must also attack the roots that feed this evil branch. Evolving from the tactics of yesterday, terrorism is becoming a greater threat as it perfects ways to continuously finance, re-equip, and re-supply itself for its sinister mission.
“Not only does it kidnap people, it kidnaps precious resources. Billions upon billions of dollars that legitimate governments should be using to sculpt better societies by providing education, health care, and food for its people now go to pay for weapons and mayhem.
“Look at the illegal mining that plagues so many of our nations today. Those who think illegal mining has no connection with financing terrorism are sorely mistaken. The international community has both the moral and legal obligation to help in this cause because it is outside money not African money that fuels the illegal operations.
“We shall be knocking on this door of the international community to answer this call for justice, peace, and fair play”, he said.
