“We are here to deliberate on mainly the issue of security around Nigeria’s natural resources, as directed by the President. The President set up this committee. Solid minerals, marine economy, and forests all constitute Nigeria’s natural resources. So, all the relevant ministers are here to deliberate on how to efficiently and effectively curtail all the atrocious, nefarious activities of either illegal mining, deforestation, or pilfering in the marine economy”.
With these words, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake threw light on the outcome of the maiden meeting of the Inter-ministerial committee on securing Nigeria’s natural resources, set up by President Bola Tinubu at Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. Alake revealed that the ministers cross-fertilised ideas and brainstormed on modalities of achieving the presidential mandate of coming up with a blueprint for securing the country’s natural resources.
“We will be having another meeting, an expanded one, comprising of all the other critical security agencies with a view to now finalizing strategies and presenting a report to Mr. President”, he added.
The Minister of Defence, Alhaji Abubakar Badaru stressed that the committee would come up with a robust strategy that would culminate in a rejigged security architecture to effectively secure the nation’s forests, blue economy, and solid minerals.
Apart from Alake and Badaru, the ministers at the meeting included that of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; Marine and Blue Economy, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola; Environment, Mr. Balarabe Abbas Lawal; and Minister of State for Police Affairs, Hajia Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim.
