The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has officially outdoored the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS).

The intelligent-led Secretariat was outdoored as the central authority for initiating, coordinating and supervising all mining raids and swoops, as part of efforts to combat galamsey.

At a brief ceremony on Thursday, June 26, the sector minister stressed that NAIMOS is the only mandated outfit with exclusive jurisdiction to oversee all anti-illegal mining operations across all sixteen regions within the country.

According to him, it is important for a centralised unit to harmonise anti-galamsey operations, thus the need to outdoor NAIMOS, which has been embarking on many successful operations within the country.

Addressing the gathering, the minister also reiterated government’s resolve to deal with the menace, adding that he is equally committed to the fight against illegal mining without fear nor favour.

“As we may all know, about 16% of our land reserves have been adversely impacted and therefore there’s the need to take urgent steps to restore our vegetative cover”, the minister noted.

“I therefore pledge my commitment to supporting the activities and operations and NAIMOS in our quest to make galamsey a thing of the past, in line with the aspirations of the Ghanaian people”, the minister assured.

On his part, the Minister for Interior, Muntaka Mubarak, who graced the occasion also pledged his support for the Secretariat, and assured his readiness to render the necessary support to make the Secretariat a success.

Deputy Defense Minister, Mr Brogya Genfi, who also spoke at the function assured that the military will remain a vital part of the Secretariat, during all deployments to help restore the depleted forests and polluted water bodies.

Together, all parties pledged their commitment to supporting the ongoing activities and future endeavours of NAIMOS towards the restoration of the environment to its pristine nature.

So far, NAIMOS has embarked on many successful raids across Eastern, Ashanti, Western, Central and Western North regions involving the seizure of excavators, arrest of illegal miners including Chinese nationals, and the confiscation of unapproved mining equipment and logistics.

With support from the military, the National Security and other allied partners, the Secretariat is also poised to do more to disloge unapproved mining operations and sanitise the environment.

The two-hour event also had heads and reps of agencies under the ministry, coming through to offer support and show commitment to the galamsey menace which remains a hazard to the environment.