Minister for Information, Fatimatu Abubakar has urged the public to dismiss reports that they have instructed the galamsey security taskforce to burn seized excavators.
Government over the last couple of days has been heavily criticized for allegedly directing security officers deployed to galamsey sites to burn seized excavators when they can be used for other important purposes.
Speaking on the issue, the Minister said the burning of seized excavators was not part of the mandate given to the security taskforce by the president.
She emphasized that the specific order given to the security taskforce before being deployed was to either seize the equipment of the illegal miners or to decommission it.
“There was this misinformation claiming the government took a policy to burn excavators but there was nothing of that sort. We never gave such policies. The policy we gave them was to seize the equipment or to decommission them so the illegal miners cannot use them again.”
“The burning of the excavators was the sole discretion of the taskforce because they felt it was the easiest way.”