By Usman Haliru
Attah John Onoja’s tenure as Commander of the NSCDC Special Mining Marshals is one of those rare cases where public service, integrity, and measurable impact meet in the same sentence. Tasked with the seemingly impossible job of confronting entrenched illegal mining cartels, he has delivered results that are both quantifiable and morally resonant. This is not about vague “efforts” or “sensitisation campaigns” it is about a record of hundreds of arrests, scores of recovered sites, and a refusal to bow to bribery or political pressure.
The facts are stubborn things. Federal accounts show that in just 14 months, the Marshals under Onoja’s watch identified 460 illegal mining sites, arrested 387 offenders, and recovered 99 sites for licensed operators. Other credible tallies put the figures even higher over 400 arrests, 152 prosecutions, and 599 sites identified. However you slice it, this is enforcement on a scale Nigeria has not seen in this sector for years. These results matter because they cut into the lifeblood of criminal networks, protect the environment from further degradation, and reclaim resources for the nation’s legitimate economy.
But it is not just the statistics that make Onoja stand out; it is the way he has earned them. In an industry awash with cash and backdoor deals, repeated attempts have been made to compromise him, and each has been met with the same outcome: a polite but firm refusal. In a country where too many enforcement campaigns have collapsed under the weight of “settlements,” Onoja’s non-negotiable stance is both a deterrent to offenders and a morale booster to honest officers.
This kind of leadership flourishes best when it is nurtured by a principled superior. Onoja’s achievements are inseparable from the vision and backing of his principal, the Commandant General of the NSCDC, Professor Ahmed Abubakar Audi. Audi is not a leader content with ceremonial titles; he has given the Mining Marshals the institutional muscle they need, approving clear operational procedures, expanding their manpower from about 2,220 to 2,670 within a year, modernising their training, and pushing for surveillance technology from drones to satellite monitoring systems. Most importantly, he has shielded them from undue interference, allowing competent commanders like Onoja to act decisively.
And the recognition has come, not just from the media or civil society, but from the very top of the sector they protect. Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals, has openly commended Onoja for his uncompromising fight against illegal mining. Alake’s praise is not perfunctory; it reflects the ministry’s direct benefit from Onoja’s enforcement: more sites in legal operation, improved compliance from licensed operators, and a public signal that illegal extraction will be met with swift, professional consequences. When the minister responsible for the sector publicly endorses a security commander’s work, it is both a validation and a challenge to keep going, and go further.
Yes, there have been storms along the way. The Mining Marshals have faced inter-agency tensions, community resistance, and legal battles including defamation suits by Onoja himself against those seeking to tarnish his name. But these are the predictable pushbacks when you attack lucrative criminal operations. They are signs of friction born not of failure, but of impact.
If there is a lesson here, it is that effective law enforcement is never the product of one man’s will alone. It is the convergence of integrity, institutional backing, and political will. In Onoja, Nigeria has a commander who refuses to be bought. In Professor Ahmed Audi, the NSCDC has a reformist leader who equips and empowers his officers. In Dele Alake, the sector has a minister who publicly applauds decisive action. That combination is rare and precious.
History, if it is fair, will not only remember Attah John Onoja as the man who proved that illegal mining could be fought without compromise; it will also record that he did so under a Commandant General who gave him the tools and the space to succeed, and with the public commendation of a minister who recognised that such courage deserves not just applause, but sustained support. That is the kind of alignment Nigeria needs far beyond the mining sector.
Haliru, writes in from Gusau, Zamfara State
