Zamfara gold deposits offer us the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone

By Ayo Akinfe

[1] This week, two serious issues have been in the news bordering on insecurity in Nigeria. The first has been that some repentant members of Boko Haram have been recruited into the Nigerian Army and the other is that gold mining in Zamfara State has fuelled the ongoing banditry there. No doubt, both issues are very emotive as apart from the fact that they raise security concerns among ordinary Nigerians, they must scare potential foreign investors to death

[2] Now, starting with the repentant Boko Haram members, I think it is a good thing to rehabilitate them back into society but alas, can they be trusted with firearms? How do we know they will not take their weapons back over to the terrorists and how do we know that they will not leak information to them? Could some of them even be Boko Haram plants?

[3] As per Zamfara gold, we all know that when Kayode Fayemi was the minister for solid minerals, he sought to get Australian investment in the sector. Australia is a world leader in solid minerals but I cannot see a company like Rio Tinto agreeing to invest in Zamfara today, as the place is simply too volatile. All their staff will be kidnapped if they even try it

[4] Across Nigeria, there are all sorts of armed militias on the loose at the moment, be it Boko Haram insurgents, Zamfara bandits, Fulani cattle herdsmen, kidnappers, armed robbers, etc. We are regarded as the third most terrorised nation on earth as the country is awash with AK47s, most of them coming from Libyan arsenals that were looted when Muammer Gaddafi's regime fell

[5] We simply need a comprehensive violent offenders rehabilitation policy that will incorporate all of these repentant murderers back into society in a productive way. Given the large number of people we are talking about, what we need is a coherent and consistent policy, not just doing things on a piecemeal basis

[6] I have always said that very little happens in life without precedence, so looking for a solution, I will go to the Soviet Union and copy what they did at the Rummu quarry in Estonia in 1942. Basically, the authorities discovered a large limestone quarry and seeking to kill two birds with one stone, they decided to build a prison next to it. Prisoners sentenced to jail with hard labour were made to work the mine on a daily basis. This way, they extracted the limestone and violent criminals were rehabilitated into society productively

[7] At the moment, the Nigerian prison regime is based on the activities of what we call Ordinary Common Criminals (OCCs) like pickpockets, petty criminals, etc. Given our recent history, I think we need a Violent Offenders Act to specifically deal with disarmed terrorists and murders who are very dangerous and are trained murders rather than OCCs

[8] As part of this policy, I would get the Engineering Corps of the Nigerian Army to build a prison next to the gold mines of Zamfara. This prison would house violent convicts and have them do the mining. It makes economic sense in my opinion to have convicted Boko Haram terrorists, Zamfara bandits, sentenced murderous Fulani herdsmen, kidnappers and armed robbers put to productive use mining gold in Zamfara State. It would boost Nigeria's economic output, get them off our streets, allay security fears as they would not be armed and over the long term, train these convicts

[9] I would even establish an entire mechanised division of the Nigerian Army in Gusau to oversee the project. If you have the 10th Mechanised Brigade of the Nigerian Army overseeing the project, it will be on hand to guarantee security. As part of this project, I would have a Nigerian Army Engineering Corp battalion permanently attached to the division to provide any technical assistance with the mine of needed

[10] Maybe if we run this project for 10 years, it will address our security concerns and bring down the level of violence. Those who are released after their prison sentences will also have been trained, so can join the operation as civilian employees. We simply need to do something radical like this to restore confidence in Nigeria, allay security fears and above all tap into the potential that Zamfara gold and other solid mineral deposits offer us. I am open to any other suggestions but I see this as the way forward in the immediate future