The Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, has said some foreigners are exchanging firearms for gold and other precious stones in the state.
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He said the development was contributing to the security challenges in the state.
Matawalle spoke with State House correspondents after a meeting with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday evening.
He said, “It is very important to us as a government, particularly on the issue of insecurity, to know the cause of insecurity.
“Zamfara State is blessed with many mineral resources and some people outside the country come in to buy gold and other precious stones and sometimes, instead of paying money, they pay with arms.
“The state government is engaging the miners. We will be buying some of the gold from them with the limited resources we have.”
The governor identified illegal mining as one of the challenges facing the state.
Matawalle said his purpose of visiting the President was to seek advice on how best we to tackle illegal mining.
Saying that the President gave him all the supports, Matawalle added that the people of the state would soon see a lot of changes, especially in the mining sector.
The governor faulted the call for the sacking of the service chiefs as a way of tackling insecurity in the country.
He said, “I advised the President that the call for the sacking of the service chiefs is not the solution.
“Let us support the security agencies and we as the governors we have a big role to play. We just have to support the security agencies, no matter what.”
Matawalle said the President advised him to look for serious investors.
He said Buhari specifically advised him to liaise with South African and Russian mining companies so that they could partner the state and Federal Government to achieve more.
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