ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria's government has been cracking down on illegal mining, making dozens of arrests of unlicensed miners since April for allegedly stealing the country's lithium, a crucial mineral used in batteries for electric vehicles, smartphones and energy systems.
The recent arrests come as Nigeria seeks to regulate its mining activities for crucial minerals, curb illegal activities and take better advantage of its mineral resources. The clean energy transition, a shift from coal, oil and gas to renewable energy and batteries, has increased global demand for lithium, tin and other minerals. Illegal mining is widespread in the country's fledgling industry because corruption among supervisory officials is common and the mineral deposits are located in remote areas with minimal government presence. Officials say profits from illegal mining practices have helped arm militia groups in the north of the province.
In the most recent arrests, in mid-May, a joint team of soldiers and police raided a remote market in Kishi, in the country's southwestern Oyo state. Locals said the market, once known for selling agricultural products, has become a center for illegal trade in lithium mined in hard-to-reach areas. The three-day operation resulted in the arrest of 32 persons, including two Chinese nationals, local workers and mineral traders, according to the state government and locals. Cargoes of lithium were also seized.
Jimoh Bioku, a leader of the Kishi community, said that in recent years there have been “clandestine searches” for the mineral in remote locations, tucked away in the bush, by Chinese nationals before “they hired people to dig for it and market turned into a transit port'. period.” The community was “particularly concerned about the insecurity that usually follows illegal mining and that is why we reported to the state government,” he said.
China is the dominant player in the global EV supply chain, including in Nigeria, where Chinese-owned companies mainly employ vulnerable people who leave Nigeria's far north – ravaged by conflict and rapid desertification – to work in mining operations across the country. country. Chinese nationals and companies are regularly in the spotlight for environmentally damaging practices, exploitative labor and illegal mining. There have been at least three cases of illegal mining arrests involving Chinese nationals in the past two months.
President Bola Tinubu has repeatedly blamed illegal mining for worsening conflicts in the country's north and has asked the international community for help to stop the problem, providing armed groups with the proceeds needed to sustain themselves and to arm.
The Chinese embassy in Abuja did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment on the arrests and claims of illegal operations. But in a statement last year following a report by The Times of London alleging that Chinese miners were bribing militants for access, the embassy said it has “always encouraged and urged Chinese companies and nationals in Nigeria to comply with the laws and regulations of Nigeria.”
Nigeria is emerging as a new source of lithium in Africa as the world's largest producers, such as Australia and Chile, are unable to meet growing global demand. But illegal activities are flourishing in Nigeria's extractive sector, depriving the government of revenue, says Emeka Okoro, whose Lagos-based SBM Intelligence company has investigated illegal mining and terrorist financing in northern Nigeria.
And the combination of conflict and the effects of climate change, such as once fertile land rapidly turning to useless barren sand in northern Nigeria, has produced cheap labor for mining sites.
The arrests of “both Chinese nationals and young Hausa boys from conflict-affected areas underline a disturbing pattern,” Okoro told the AP. “The socio-economic pressures of conflict and the effects of climate change have given rise to a vulnerable demographic group desperate for survival.”
To combat resource theft, which causes the government losses of $9 billion a year, the West African country established a 2,200-strong “corps of mining commissioners” earlier this year, according to the country's transparency watchdog for the country's extractive industry.
While existing law enforcement agencies are still battling the problem, the new force is focused on curbing “the nefarious activities of illegal miners,” said Segun Tomori, spokesman for the Ministry of Solid Minerals.
Before the Kishi attack, the mining force arrested two trucks loaded with lithium on the outskirts of the capital Abuja in April. Later that month, the force raided Karu, Nasarawa State, near Abuja, leading to the arrest of four Chinese nationals and the seizure of tonnes of lithium. Tomori said the cases are now in court.
On April 22, a federal court in Ilorin, North-Central Region, convicted two Chinese nationals of illegal mining and sentenced them to one year in prison, albeit with an option of a fine.
Nigeria has long neglected the solid minerals sector, leaving some communities, such as the northern tin-rich town of Jos, dependent on subsistence mining for their livelihoods.
For those communities where livelihoods depend on mining, Tomori says the government is encouraging artisanal miners there to form cooperatives and operate legally.
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