For over eight months, Chinese nationals have been bypassing Nigeria’s security system to carry out illegal mining activities in Kwara State and not remitting loyalties to the federal government.
The foreigners primarily using visitors visa instead of work permits to tap from the nation’s natural resources, carried out illegal mining activities in almost all the 16 local government areas of Kwara the state unhindered.
According to operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who arrested the Chinese miners, they operated under the guise of a company named W. Mining Global Services Limited, a company WikkiTimes could not find any information about using open-source techniques.
The Chinese miners were also involved in “selling” marble produced from illegally mined granite in the area, to Nigerians.
The anti-graft agency in a statement said it arrested 13 of the foreign miners who exploit the country’s natural resources without paying a dime to the federal government.
It added that the scenario contravenes Section One (8) of the Miscellaneous Offenses Act Cap M17, 1983.
“The suspects, which comprise of a female and 12 males, were arrested on Wednesday July 12, 2023 at the Government Reserved Area, G.R.A Ilorin following credible intelligence about their activities which included but not limited to, illegal mining and non-payment of royalties to the Federal Government as required by law,” some parts of the statement read.
According to the statement, the suspects include Guo Ya Wang (36), Lizli Hui (42), Guo Jian Rong (36), Lizh Shen Xianian (37), Lishow Wu (26), Guo Pan (38), Lia Meiyu (53), Guo Kai Quan (36) Lin Pan (50).
Others are Ma Jan (38), Wendy Wei Suqin (31), Li Zhinguo Wei (29), and Xie Zhinguo (53).
The anti-graft agency said prior to their arrest, discrete investigations on the activities of illegal mining operators revealed that the operators have different illegal mining sites in almost all the 16 local government areas of the state.
“Upon interrogation, the suspects confessed to be workers of a Chinese Company known as W. Mining Global Service Limited situated at Olayinka in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State. It was gathered that the company was using the illegally mined granite to produce marble for sale locally in Nigeria. Findings also revealed that some of the suspects working in the said company were without ‘work permit’, but only entered Nigeria with visitor’s visa,” the statement added.
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The arrest came a day after the Acting Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Abdulkarim Chukkol held a media training for journalists in Kwara State where he lamented the activities of illegal mining operators, describing it as a grave threat to the local and national economy.
The statement also noted that within the last eight months, no fewer than 80 illegal operators had been arrested by the Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC and 24 truckloads of assorted minerals impounded.
WikkiTimes also learnt that the same Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC had on September 10, 2022, arrested a Chinese National, Dang Deng, managing director of Sinuo Xinyang Nigeria Ltd, for being in possession of 25 tons of assorted crude minerals and got him convicted on October 19, 2022, before Justice Mohammed Sani of the Federal High Court, Ilorin.
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About three months ago, The Times, a British newspaper exposed how Chinese companies work in parts of Nigeria where banditry attacks are frequent, bribed terrorists to access mining sites.
The paper reported that attacks on Chinese citizens have increased. It is estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 Chinese nationals live in Nigeria. But between 2019 and last year, 51 Chinese people are known to have been kidnapped and three killed. It is likely that many more incidents go unreported.
The Chinese embassy in Abuja has now urged its citizens to “strengthen civil defence, physical defence and technical defence measures”.
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Research shared with The Times from SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based analytical group, has revealed videos on social media and WhatsApp of militant leaders boasting that they are so powerful that Chinese workers wishing to operate in their areas must pay them “rent”. They have taken over swathes of northwest Nigeria, turning the region into the country’s bloodiest conflict zone.
Insurgents discuss the payments on social media. Sources on the ground in the states of Zamfara and Katsina have confirmed that, in the words of Ikemesit Effiong, SBM’s head of research, “these guys are perfectly willing to pay off whoever needs to be paid off and have no qualms about it and are allowed to carry out operations”.
In one pocket of Zamfara, researchers found, interaction with militants runs so deep that some serve as runners for Chinese miners who have spread throughout Nigeria, controlling digs for gold. The country has some of the largest gold reserves in the world.
