THE recent arrest of 12 illegal gold miners in Ondo State by the Joint Operation Task Force and the Nigerian Army in Onipetesi area of Odigbo and Okitipupa Local Government  areas of the state has again brought to the fore the destructive act of the evil doers who are bent on circumventing the efforts of the government for their selfish ends.

THE Senior Special Assistant on Security to the State Governor, Mr. Olugbenga Atiba, who disclosed this noted that the illegal miners were caught based on credible intelligence to combat kidnapping activities in the State. He disclosed that the kingpins were from Niger and Zamfara, States notorious for such activities and vowed that such would not be allowed to take root in the Sunshine state. The arrested culprits include: Abdullahi Ibrahim, 40; Hassan Bala, 40; Alawude Damilarin, 36; Ajayi Ebukun, 35 ; Oluwaseun Rufus, 34 and Adebayo James,  25. Others were; Kamal Zaharadeen, 25; Mohammed Bello Lawal, 25; Yunusa Mohammed, 24; Ma’azu Auwal, 24; Bashir Muktar, 23 and Kabiru Sani, 21.

BEFORE now, the menace of illegal miners had been reported in some parts of the State particularly in Owo and Ose local governments with fruitless efforts to apprehend the perpetrators. The onslaught of illegal mining in the country has remained a serious threat not only to the socio-economic activities of the state but to governance in general. Every state is endowed with God’s given natural resources like gold, zinc, coal among others which are expected to be utilized for positive development to the benefit of all. However, it is very sad and condemnable that some people driven by selfish interest are bent on reaping the state of its collective endowment and will spare nothing to realise their evil agenda.

THE Hope considered it as the height of unpatriotism and economic sabotage for some citizens of the state to connive with outsiders by opening up their ancestral lands to be plundered for selfish reasons. The time to speak out is now to avoid Zamfara’s episode. Aside Zamfara, states like Bauchi, Niger, Nasarawa whose environments were exploited by illegal miners are still gnashing their teeth in anguish. This is enough warning for the wise to heed and take a drastic step at guiding against a similar fate.

EXPERIENCE over the years had shown that the major effect of illegal mining is its devastating impact on the environment. It causes environmental degradation through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil. It destroys the ecosystem, pollutes the environment with poisonous mercuric substance used for processing gold thus causing sedimentation in streams and rivers which in the long run impacts negatively on the quality of life and health of residents including animals in the affected environment. Illegal miners breed insecurity and expose the lives of locals to criminality which fuels avoidable dangers. Likewise, citizens need to be sensitized on the importance of unpolluted environment, which helps to mitigate the effects of climatic change and contributes majorly to human health and total well-being. No doubt, the environment provides us with enormous value for life enhancement but if abused, will fight back.

WHILE commending the joint efforts of the security agencies for attaining this feat, The Hope urges them to reinforce surveillance in the interiors and ungoverned spaces where the activities of the illegal miners are most prevalent. They should do more on intelligence gathering, the zenith of crime fighting and the fulcrum on which crime prevention and investigation revolves. Illegal miners are enemies of progress as they constitute environmental hazards to our overall existence. Besides the fact that their activities result in the destruction of the environment, they also halt the expected development in the state where such evil is being perpetrated as few people enrich themselves with the fortune of all.

HUMAN and the environment have a symbiotic relationship, the safety of the environment is our safety, and hence, we get what we give to the environment. To this end, we appeal to the residents in areas prone to this despicable act of illegal miners to provide useful information aiming at winning the war because security is as active as the information at their disposal and the pivot of crime fighting remains citizens’ participation in intelligence gathering.

TO forestall future occurrence, The Hope calls on the state government to prosecute those arrested as deterrentsto potential illegal miners. We equally urge the government to fortify the task force with technological equipment that will assist them to monitor such illegal activities from the comfort of their office. We as well appeal to the government to show interest in husbandry and dialogue with locals on the environmental effect of illegal miners and the risks of habouring criminal elements who sabotage the commonwealth of the people for their inordinate desires. We believe that environmental degradation is a curse to the people and is man-made which can be curbed with the support of the security agencies, government, locals and traditional rulers, thus protecting our environment against selfish saboteurs. The time to overcome this challenge is now.