HOORAY! FINALLY, NIGERIA HAVE GOLD AFTER MANY YEARS OF SECRECY AND SECRET MINING BY NIGERIAN RETIRED GENERALS The tone is decidedly triumphant: foreign concerns are coming here to mine gold, iron ore and allied minerals. And the golden tale bearer, Mohammed Amate, director-general of Nigerian Cadastre Office, Abuja, conveyed it with a flush of excitement: New Year, new hope, and new jobs, courtesy of mining! Mr. Amate told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that foreign firms, Mines Geotechnique Nigeria Ltd, Northern Numero Resources Ltd, Segilola Nigeria Ltd and KCM Mining Ltd, from Australia and United Kingdom, have landed mining rights for gold and iron ore in Nigeria: Kebbi, Kogi and Osun states, to be precise. Though Segilola Nigeria, from name recognition, seems a distinctly Nigerian firm, the report claims it is an Australian firm. Segilola is the proud gold digger (no negative pun intended), which operating licence is in Osun State; and it’s a done deal, for the firm’s exploration activities have confirmed more than one million ounces of gold buried in Osun’s rich chest, at least in its area of operation. The other firms, mining iron ore, are no less lucky, for exploration activities have also proved no less than 500 million tonnes of iron ore. Still on the good news: the quad is only a fifth of the 20 foreign firms the Federal Government has granted mining exploration licences. Shortly the gold – and iron ore – rush would start; and jobs, jobs, and jobs would come, to employ millions of Nigeria’s jobless and disoriented youth! It is a happy, happy New Year indeed! But the avoidable depression: why is granting mining licences the monopoly of the Federal Government in a federation of 36 states? Look at the bureaucracy of it: the host states lose wealth, while the central government makes a fetish of its licensing monopoly.Look at the ecology of it: the host states – and communities – suffer environmental degradation, while the God-playing central government grabs the cash, and gives the Biblical hewers of stone and drawers of water a mere “change”. Look at the economics of it: wealth lying untapped in the bowels of states, while mass poverty bordering on penury gallops all over the land because of some pre-historic law by which these natural resources are exclusively vested in the Federal Government. It is good the Federal Government is taking mining more seriously as foreign exchange earner, outside its near-mono commodity of crude oil. But it is even better, the earlier it realises the present federal monopoly in that sector does nothing but impoverishes everybody, when a liberal and federalism-compliant law of states mining their land, and paying the centre some agreed tax, will enrich everyone. Besides, that realisation would drive inter-state/inter-region competition that would add value, and embed heavy local industries. That would be smarter economics than the present practice of exporting crude oil and buying it back at a refined premium, therefore posting a net loss. It is then, and only then, that we would have hit gold! In 2012 Paffcomm wrote an article concerning secret mining of our gold by retired general titled NIGERIA CORRUPTION: WHERE DOES THE BUCK STOP?paffcomm/1/post/2012/07/nigeria-corruption-where-does-the-buck-stop.html We have been mining gold and diamond and uranium for decades yet Nigerians cannot even buy products made from gold or diamond. We have been selling gold and diamond at the international gold and diamond market for decades and ordinary Nigerians do not know that Nigeria have gold and diamond not to mention where the proceeds go. Have you heard of Nigerian gold or Nigeria diamond or Uranium? It is not even listed in the Nigeria mineral resource except Uranium. As a Nigeria, I only know about Thailand and English gold, I have never heard of Nigerian gold. No one in Nigerian except the secret and sole miners of the product, e.g. Corrupt govt, politicians and retired generals knows that Nigeria has gold and diamond. Also, they know where the proceeds go. It is estimated that gold and diamond deposits alone could fetch our country trillions of dollars not to mention the abundance of other minerals that are found in large quantities like Uranium, which is a big market more than the gold and diamond yet years of corruption, mismanagement, conflicts and foreign involvement have made our resource rich nation one of the poorest in the world. It will be very hard to believe that mineral like gold, uranium and diamond are in the hand of past military leaders who are sole miners of these minerals with govt permission and no accountability even though it is believed that these same leaders that confiscate our minerals as their sole properties have taken several billions of dollars from the treasury and deposited it in their numerous Swiss bank accounts. Each day aircraft fly out of our cities with loads of stolen minerals bound for overseas and western mineral markets in London and Switzerland. The proceeds are shared by the military generals, politicians, and western companies. Western nations cannot maintain their current level of lifestyle without Nigeria. Most corporations in the west can easily go bust without Nigeria. If Nigeria is the bloodline of the west and the west is rich because of Nigeria, why is Nigeria so poor? Paffcomm paffcomm
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 10:54:21 +0000
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