The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has called for stronger collaboration with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Mining Marshals to tackle the growing links between illegal mining, organised crime and terrorism in Nigeria and the wider West African region.
The Commander of the Mining Marshals, Assistant Commandant of Corps John Attah, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday, following a strategic visit by a UNODC delegation to the Corps.
The delegation, led by Chief of the Africa Section of the Terrorism Prevention Branch, Tullio Santini, commended the Mining Marshals’ enforcement efforts, noting that rising arrests and prosecutions demonstrated Nigeria’s commitment to combating illicit mining.
A key focus of the meeting was the UNODC’s Coordination through Operational Networks against the Crime-Terrorism Nexus (CONNECT) Initiative, which seeks to strengthen cooperation among governments and law enforcement agencies to disrupt financial and operational links between criminal and terrorist networks.
Nigeria is among the countries invited to participate in the initiative, scheduled for launch in November 2026.
Attah, who represented the NSCDC Commandant-General, Prof Ahmed Audi, said previous UNODC-supported training had improved cooperation between the Mining Marshals and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, particularly in intelligence-led investigations into illegal mining syndicates.
He urged the formal inclusion of the Mining Marshals in the CONNECT Initiative, stressing that illegal exploitation of mineral resources could provide financial support for terrorist organisations and other criminal networks.
Attah also called for expanded training in terrorism-related issues, regional intelligence sharing and peer learning to strengthen the Corps’ capacity to respond to evolving threats linked to illicit mining.
The UNODC officials praised the Mining Marshals’ broad mandate, which covers intelligence gathering, prevention, arrests, investigation and prosecution, as well as non-kinetic approaches such as community engagement.
The meeting ended with a renewed commitment to strengthen cooperation against the growing convergence of resource-related crime, organised crime and terrorism in Nigeria and the wider region.
