Rare Earth Minerals Illegal Mining: The Killing Of Innocent Nigerians And Why The U.S Military Must Intervene In The North, By Festus Tokunbo

The Nigerian internal security is highly compromised. Over the years, the government has budgeted the highest percentage of the budget on defense and security, yet the Nigerian internal-security failures are characterized by a massive humanitarian crisis, killings, and kidnapping. There are various factors driving the internal insecurity in Nigeria. In the North, the main factor is the illegal exploitation of rare earth mineral resources and the spread of Islamic extremist ideology. This is perpetrated by corrupt politicians, transnational actors and jihadist insurgencies and results in the killing of thousands of innocent Muslims and Christians. In the middle-belt, internal insecurity is motivated to stop the spread of the Christian religion, which has resulted in the systemic killing of thousands of Christians. In the south, insecurity is caused by social inequality and the struggle over perceived marginalization of the region.

Since 2014, thousands of children, mothers, farmers and other Nigerians have been killed, maimed for life, and internally displaced in Nigeria. Yet succeeding governments in Nigeria have been playing politics with internal insecurity. Over the years, the Nigerian governments have been proposing the creation of internal police as one of the effective means for addressing internal insecurity, but today, the Nigerian police system is still highly centralized. In spite of the fact that high-profiled politicians and some international actors have been accused of funding terrorism in Northern Nigeria to create insecurity and illegally mined the huge deposit of Nigerian rare minerals resources, yet the government is yet to publish the names of sponsors of Boko Haram and other jihadist groups in Nigeria. Many of these militant groups are always set free by the authorities after being arrested by the military. In 2022, when l was a research intern at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in Lagos, the Nigerian Chief of Defense Staff delivered a lecture at the institute that showed only about 7% of the Boko Haram insurgent members arrested by the military were prosecuted. Many of the Islamic militant group arrested for bombing and killing innocent Nigerians were released without prosecution by the corrupt Nigerian judicial system. As has been the case with the succeeding governments in Nigeria since 2014, President Tinubu-led administration does not have the political will to address the internal-insecurity crisis in Nigeria.

The future of global warfare, modern technologies and a green economy depends on rare earth minerals. According to statista.com, China is currently the world’s largest producer of rare earth minerals, while Nigeria is ranked as the 6th largest producers of rare earth minerals in the world, but the US is 2nd in the world and lagging behind China by over 58% in the global production of rare earth minerals. It would better served the national interest of the country if the Nigerian government established a rare mineral deal with the US in exchange for military intervention against the Jihadist groups rather than allowing the few corrupts politicians and transnational actors to continue using internal insecurity in north for the illegal exploitation of the Nigerian rare earth minerals. The United States military will be conducting military action against the terrorism groups , and exposed their sponsors and will likely want a rare earth mineral deal with Nigeria.

IF the Southern oil and natural gas are exploited towards the GDP, the Northern rare earth minerals must also be exploited for national development.

As mentioned earlier in this article, social imbalances and inequality are critical factors causing insecurity in southern Nigeria. Since achieving independence from the British government in the 1960s, the oil sector has been the major source of foreign revenue for the Nigeria government. Today, the oil sector is about 9% of Nigerian GDP, contributing over 70% of government foreign revenue needed. But the mining industry contributes only about 0.3% to the Nigerian GDP despite the fact that Nigeria is the 6th largest producer of rare earth minerals in the world. The rare minerals resources are illegally mined by a few corrupt northern politicians and transnational actors. Earlier this year, the current Minister of Mineral Resources lamented the high rate of illegal mining in the Northern Nigeria. As Nigeria is driving towards a trillion dollar economy by 2030, every sector of the economy, including, the real economy, financial economy and the natural resources, must be fully explored to achieve this economic expansion. The agricultural and rare earth minerals sectors are key to Nigeria becoming a trillion dollars economy by 2030. The few corrupt politicians and transnational actors have robbed Nigeria of billions of dollars for many years, creating internal insecurity in the north as a means of illegally mining the rare earth mineral resources. China has long been accused of funding terrorism in Northern Nigeria to exploit the nation’s rare mineral resources. If the illegal mining in the sector is stopped and an official deal is established with the US or other international actors, the mining sector can contribute up to 5% to the Nigerian GDP. The government of President Tinubu must now take decisive action and declare a state of emergency in the mining sector to stop every illegal exploitation of rare earth minerals and ensure that these resources are exploited towards the GDP.

Festus Tokunbo. Global Affairs Strategist, UK.