Court Sentences Truck Driver, Orders Forfeiture Of 25 Tons Lithium Minerals

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has secured the conviction of a truck driver, Kasimu Bawa, over the illegal transportation of 25 tons of suspected illegally mined lithium minerals valued at N2.4 million in Kwara State.

Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin sentenced the 50-year-old driver from Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State to two years imprisonment after finding him guilty of unlawful possession of solid minerals.

The court also ordered the forfeiture of the 25 tons of lithium minerals recovered from the convict as part of ongoing efforts to clamp down on illegal mining activities across the country.

Bawa was arrested by operatives of the EFCC Ilorin Zonal Directorate on September 9, 2022, at Share, along Tsaragi Road in Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State, while transporting the minerals in a truck.

According to the anti-graft agency, the minerals were allegedly purchased without a valid licence by a Chinese national, Gang Deng, who had earlier been convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment by the same court on October 19, 2022.

The EFCC said the conviction forms part of its broader crackdown on illegal mining operations and economic sabotage within Nigeria’s solid minerals sector.

Investigations revealed that the truck driven by Bawa was being used to convey the illegally sourced lithium minerals before it was intercepted by EFCC operatives during surveillance operations in Kwara State.

The Commission has repeatedly warned that illegal mining activities continue to deprive the country of critical revenues while fueling environmental degradation and illicit mineral exports.

The latest conviction comes amid increasing government efforts to tighten regulation within the solid minerals sector and curb the activities of illegal operators, including foreign nationals involved in unauthorized mineral exploitation across Nigeria