Mkpoikana UdomaPort Harcourt — The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has pledged to collaborate with the Mineral Resources and Environmental Management Committee, MIREMCO, to tackle illegal mining activities in the country.
EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, assured MIREMCO of the Commission’s support during a working visit to the Kaduna Zonal Directorate, where he urged members of the Committee to utilise the federal government’s Whistleblowing Policy to assist EFCC in recovering monetary assets in the sector.
Olukoyede, while expressing worry over the huge economic loss of the country as a result of illegal mining activities, assured the Committee of the Commission’s readiness to work with it and all meaningful stakeholders in the sector towards rooting out illegal mining activities in the country.
MIREMCO Chairman, Lawal Umar Mayere, who shared Olukoyede’s worry on the huge financial loss of the country as a result of illegal mining activities, added that illegal mining was equally claiming massive human casualties in the country.
Mayere disclosed that the Committee was motivated to seek EFCC’s collaboration, as a result of the Commission’s outstanding track record in dealing with issues of financial crimes and economic sabotage.
He identified evasion of royalties and taxes payments and non-compliance to financial regulations governing mining activities in the country as areas requiring urgent EFCC’s attention.
