British daily, The Times, has published an exclusive report of how Chinese operating in Nigeria’s mining sector are funding terrorist groups for access into the country’s huge mineral reserves.
The report published by the newspaper on Saturday says: “Chinese mining bosses are funding Nigerian militant groups in order to secure access to the country’s mineral reserves, raising the prospect that Beijing could be indirectly funding terror in Africa’s largest economy.
“Chinese companies working in parts of Nigeria where attacks are frequent have been striking security deals with insurgents, The Times has learnt. Attacks on Chinese citizens, of whom there are said to be between 100,000 and 200,000 in Nigeria, have become regular occurrences in recent years amid the country’s many conflicts.
“Between 2019 and last year, 51 Chinese people are known to have been kidnapped and three killed. It is likely that many more incidents go unreported. The Chinese embassy in Abuja has now urged its citizens to “strengthen civil defence, physical defence and technical defence measures”.”
There are about 1,000 Chinese companies registered in Nigeria with the Asian powerhouse being Nigeria’s No 1 trading partner. The report reveals that the Chinese operating in the country’s mining sector have become a good source of cash for the criminals that have established themselves in parts of the country especially the Northwest where they strike at will.
“Research shared with The Times from SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based analytical group, has revealed videos on social media and WhatsApp of militant leaders boasting that they are so powerful that Chinese workers wishing to operate in their areas must pay them “rent”. They have taken over swathes of northwest Nigeria, turning the region into the country’s bloodiest conflict zone.
“Insurgents discuss the payments on social media. Sources on the ground in the states of Zamfara and Katsina have confirmed that, in the words of Ikemesit Effiong, SBM’s head of research, “these guys are perfectly willing to pay off whoever needs to be paid off and have no qualms about it and are allowed to carry out operations”.”
“In one pocket of Zamfara, researchers found, interaction with militants runs so deep that some serve as runners for Chinese miners who have spread throughout Nigeria, controlling digs for gold. The country has some of the largest gold reserves in the world.
It is not clear how much of these activities of the Chinese contractors are known to the Nigerian authorities but some of them have been known to carry out some illegal businesses in recent years and have been duly punished according to The Times’ publication.
“Chinese mining contractors, who local communities have accused of abuses and paying pitiful wages, often smuggle minerals out of the country illegally and are sometimes arrested. In 2020, 27 miners, including 17 said to be Chinese, were arrested in Osun state. Last October a Chinese citizen, Gang Deng, 29, was jailed for five years after being found with 25 tonnes of a mineral thought to be lepidolite, containing lithium, which is used in batteries.
“SBM also found Chinese workers involved in the Boko Haram conflict in Nigeria’s northeast, with a case of a Chinese smuggler being paid to help a jihadist group move metal ore out of the country.
“Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Commons foreign affairs select committee and the China Research Group of MPs, said reports of Chinese companies funding militant groups were “deeply concerning”. She called on the British government to assist Nigeria in “strengthening regulatory oversight and governance of Chinese companies in the sector”.”
