The Caretaker Chairman of Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State, Rev. Fr. Mark Teryila Hule, at the weekend, discovered a large illegal mining site in the area.
The site is reportedly responsible for part of the environmental hazard ravaging the LG and its environs and has been described as an ‘epicentre of illegal mining activities’.
Rev. Fr. Hule led youths of the community into the forest in the company of security personnel to enforce the directives of Governor Hyacinth Alia regarding the ban on all illegal mining activities in the state.
Speaking, the caretaker chairman who decried the high level of damage done on the vast arable land by the criminally insane groups, called on both the federal and state governments respectively to swing into action in a bid to immediately correct the mistakes by providing reparation for the damaged land.
The Chairman, in a statement by his media aide, Ahundu Joseph Ahundu, expressed shock at what he saw just within the Liev 1 community and the level of sabotage done to the nation’s economy.
He said, “Such a venture could not have been effectively undertaken if it was not an organized crime involving the security and some influential people in the area”.
The caretaker chairman pleaded with the two tiers of government “to see his plea as an SOS call because the activities have done a great damage to the land and people of Kwande whose life expectancy has been greatly threatened from the illegal and unbecoming act which have led to a massive drop out of students from school in the area, drug addiction among the youth, no source of water for the people, no accessible road network among others”.
Rev. Hule thanked Governor Alia for declaring war against illegal mining in the state, an avenue he said revealed so much illegality and criminality that is bedevilling and threatening the well-being of the people.
He warned those involved in the act to desist from it or risk being apprehended to face justice.