DECAN Honours Mining Marshals Commander For Fight Against Illegal Mining
Princess-Ekwi Ajide
Illegal mining threatens Nigeria’s mineral wealth and the safety of communities, making intelligence-led enforcement critical to stopping illicit extraction, hence the need to recognize outstanding people in the fight.
It is against this backdrop, that the Defence Correspondents Association of Nigeria (DECAN), has decorated the Commander of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Mining Marshals, Assistant Commandant of Corps (ACC) John Attah Onoja, with its Outstanding Operational Commander’s Award for his leadership in tackling illegal mining.
The award was presented at DECAN’s 2026 Conference and Awards on Monday, October 12, in Abuja where Onoja credited the recognition to the leadership of NSCDC Commandant-General, Prof. Abubakar Ahmed Audi, acknowledging the corps’ institutional efforts to protect Nigeria’s mineral resources.
The conference, themed “Beyond Kinetic Warfare: Harnessing Technology and Intelligence-Led Operations for Nigeria’s National Security,” highlighted the need for intelligence gathering, advanced surveillance and inter-agency cooperation to strengthen security operations.
Speaker after speaker at the event, including the Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Gwabin Musa (rtd.), represented by Air Commodore Stephen Ogunmodele, agreed that military firepower alone can not guarantee national security, stressing the importance of intelligence in identifying threats and directing precise operations.
Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, also underscored the role of artificial intelligence, geospatial intelligence and surveillance technology in improving operational effectiveness
The keynote address delivered by former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai (rtd.) stressed urged the military to see journalists as partners.
For the Mining Marshals, the real test remains translating these strategies into sustained action against illegal mining, protecting mining communities and preventing offenders from returning to abandoned or raided sites.
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