The Federal Executive Council, FEC, at its third meeting of the year on Monday, approved the procurement of a 2.5 billion Naira satellite gadget to combat illegal mining in the country.

Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, said this while briefing State House Correspondents, stating that technology was an integrated solution framework to combat unlicensed, unregulated, underreported mining activities.

Alake stressed the deployment of the technology would curb activities that had led to revenue leakages, illegal operations and illegal extraction and exploitation of the country’s minerals.

9News Nigeria reports that some of his words were; “We are procuring satellite equipment, satellite gadgets that will be installed in strategic places all over the country that would enable us to have visual effect, real time of the operations that are ongoing in sites all over the country.

“There will be a centre like a screen in the operation centre, the mines martial centre, and in my office as well.

“At a glance, at the click of a button, you can surf any mine site and see the operations there; the volume of the mineral extracted, the number of trucks going out, and, of course, the security situation in the environment,” said the Minister.

Alake said his ministry introduced the technology in addition to a two-prong strategy to combat illegal mining, revealing that on assumption of duty, the ministry adopted a two-prong approach: which are persuasive and coercive strategies.

He expressed that the persuasive strategy entailed appealing to the sense of responsibility of artisanal miners to form cooperatives.

“When they form cooperatives, they become structured, formalised and legalised, and their operation can now add some value to the nation. “When they form cooperatives they become bankable. They can even have access to financial institutions to procure loans to expand their businesses.

“And of course, it means they have to pay their obligations to the Nigerian state,” he said.