Date: 2017-05-04

As part of concerted efforts by the Kwara State House of Assembly to halt illegal mining in the State, the Legislature has constituted a Seven man Ad- Hoc Committee to assist in proffering enduring solutions to the menace of illegal mining in the State.

This followed the report of the five man committee raised by the House earlier in February this year, to interface with the State Governor Alhaji Abdul Fatah Ahmed on checking illegal mining activities in the State following a motion raised by a member representing Share/ Oke Ode Constituency Hon Jimoh Akanni Mohammed.

Reading the resolutions of the House, the Speaker, Dr. Ali Ahmad said the Committee which has the House Leader Hon. Hassan Oyeleke as its Chairman, Hons Akanni Abdul Rahman, Suleiman Baziki, Adamu Usman, Aishat Ibrahim, Adebayo Mohammed and Mathew Babaoye as members would among other things gather information about mining activities and comprehensively proffer recommendations for the House to act on.

Dr Ahmad explained that the House could not fold its arms and allow illegal mining ,which according to him, had given the State a bad name to continue.

He said the State had been robbed of collosal revenue, employment opportunities, derivative fund from the federal government and contented with continued environmental degradation occasioned by illegal mining activities.

Earlier, the House leader, Hon. Hassan Oyeleke had, while briefing the House, said the executive was not demonstrating enough political will to establish mining committee as provided for in the Mining Act to interface with the Federal Ministry of Mining and Solid Minerals Development on behalf of host Communities to enable the state reap the full benefits of its vast mineral deposits.

Other members who spoke on the report highlighted the collosal loss of the state due to the activities of the illegal miners and urged the house to constitute Ad- hoc committee on it with a view to addressing the problem holistically.

It would be recalled that the House had in its resolutions in February this year, urged the state government to among other things set up mining committee to coordinate mining activities in the state, while media reports equally last week described the state has having the highest illegal miners on the continent.

The House also in its Tuesday's sitting received mails from Governor Ahmed seeking for a law to provide for the Administration of Criminal Justice in all Courts in the State and Hotel Occupancy and Restaurant Consumption, Industrial Goods and Quarry Haulage ( licensing and control), State Manufacturing Processing Levy and State Hospitality and Tourism Development Board.

The Speaker who said the bills according to the governor seek among other provisions to regulate the institutions related to them and enhance revenue generation of the State, directed the House Committee on Rules and Business to slate the affected bills for further legislative activities.