Disturbed by the increasing spate of bombings by the Boko Haram sect, the Federal Government is considering replacing the current form of explosives used in mines with chemical explosives, which cannot easily be manipulated by abusers of the substances.
Besides, a new law on explosives is being proposed to supplant the existing one enacted in 1967.

Chemical explosives, it was gathered, are not harmful when being moved around and are activated only when buried in the ground and necessary pressure applied on them.

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Musa Sada, confirmed these in an exclusive interview with our correspondent.

Sada said newer technologies had led to the development of new explosives that were harmless when in transit.

The minister said, “We are looking at the nature of explosives. Now there are chemical explosives; they are harmless when you are moving them around.

“Such chemicals don’t become explosives until you have buried them in the ground and applied the necessary pressure.”

According to the minister, a Nigerian company is exploring a working relationship with a Chinese firm that manufactures the chemical explosive to explore the possibility of making it in the country.

He said the ministry had given the company full support on the project.

Besides, the minister said, a process had been put in place to craft a new law to regulate the manufacture, importation, transportation and use of explosives in the country.

He said the law currently in use had outlived its usefulness as it was enacted in 1967.

According to him, the police and other security agencies have been consulted to make their inputs into the law, which will be presented to the National Assembly as a bill, after the nod of the Federal Executive Council.

Investigations by SUNDAY PUNCH showed that government had put in place some tough measures to prevent explosives used for blasting and quarrying activities from getting into wrong hands that can use them for harmful purposes.

It was learnt that the new measures require manufacturers and importers of explosives as well as their customers to submit reports on their activities every two weeks through the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.

Any user buying an explosive from a manufacturer or importer must also have in its employ the services of a qualified mining engineer.

Sada said before the ministry could issue a licence to anybody to deal in explosives, the person must obtain security clearance from the Police and the State Security Services.

He said, “We must get security clearance before we issue licence to any company. There are conditions that must be met by an entity before they are issued a licence to deal in explosives. They must have approved facility for storage. They must also have the handling equipment.

“Any company that deals in explosives must also have in its employment a qualified and certified engineer that has the capacity to handle explosives.

“When an explosive is being moved to a site, it must be accompanied by a bomb disposal expert from the police qualified to handle explosives.”

According to him, their licences are renewed on annual basis based on the performance of licensees.

He added that as much as regulation was necessary because of security implication, there was also the need not to stifle economic activities in quarrying and road construction firms that depended on the use of explosives.

He said, “There was a time the police told us to stop the use of explosives. We did and within two weeks, the price of cement skyrocketed.

“The reason was that cement manufacturers could not find explosives to use for blasting.

“We had to review that directive. We have to be careful not to stifle economic activities such as road construction. We opted for control rather than ban.”

Since the Eagle Square Abuja, October 1, 2010 bomb explosions during Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary, bombings have become a regular occurrence especially in Northern cities such as Maiduguri, Kano, Kaduna, Jos, Damaturu, Bauchi, Suleja and Abuja.

Illegal factories that manufacture Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) used by Boko Haram have also been discovered by the police.

According to the minister, any explosive that is not used by a certified buyer within a specified period must be reported to the police for defusing as such explosive becomes very dangerous to human beings.

For any company that does not have a storage facility, any explosive that it buys must be accompanied straight from the manufacturer or the importer to the consumption site accompanied by bomb disposal expert from the police.

It was also gathered that before an importer could clear explosives from the ports, such a person must notify the Office of the National Security Adviser, which issues him a clearance certificate.

Efforts to get the list of manufacturers and importers of explosives were thwarted by bureaucracy even when the minister had ordered its release after an interview in his office.

http://www.punchng.com/news/boko-haram-fg-considers-new-law-on-explosives/

wat does the man mean by 'chemical explosives' don't explode on the surface of earth.

And they think it will stop the bombings. Slowpokes

More money for custom officers and dock workers, If u don't have clearance, just pay triple the initial clearing charges and you are a go!!!.

More talk than action, thats the govt of PDP,

Una wan give them chemical weapon to go nuclear?

When nowadays, ppl can easily make explosives from everyday items such as common fertilizers, so who are they kidding?

Me_Aboki:

When nowadays, ppl can easily make explosives from everyday items such as common fertilizers, so who are they kidding?

That is why naija farmers don't have enough fertilizer to farm anymore.

Classic. These people work like Swiss time pieces. I knew they would come up with a 'solution' fast with of course economic benefits for the 'chosen'. But really, must every misfortune be exploited to make money. Is there any explosive substance that isn't a chemical compound. I don't get it. They are making the transportation safe for who, the militants?. Am I missing anything here. What stops the militants from getting this secret stuff from where it is getting its Dynamite or C4. Or is it a special substance invented by the Chinese specifically for Nigeria unknown to man. These folks are kidding.

The problem lies with corruption and complacency in enforcement of current rules controlling the administration and use of explosives so the solution lies with tackling that. And though we know corruption is nigh impossible to eradicate our best solution will be to ban the civilian trade and use of all categories of explosives and explosive paraphenalia for a limited time period while stocks on the black market are run down by robbers and militants. Of course all warehoused stock should be handed over to the Nigerian Army Corps of Engineers who will administer all blasting at quarries, mines and engineering sites for the duration of the emergency, and beyond if necessary. The military are at the forefront of the war against this insurgency so it will be up to them to ensure the tools are denied their opponents.

What does the man mean by "chemical explosives?" [b]All [/b]explosives are chemicals.

"importers of explosives to get clearance from the Police"
kai, this na food for the police o. But wait o, with the likes of Zakari Biu and N20 collectors from the checkpoints still remain in the police, dont you think the criminals will have their way. Afterall, we have heard a situation in which the police gave their guns out to robbers to use.
Nigeria, I salute.

All die na die, whether chemical or otherwise,explosive is explosive! Burying underground is even worse sef,

For now no explosive device should be found in the possesion of any civilian including the police. This is my candid opinion. Restricting others to the exclusion of the chosen is just an exercise to create a corrupt monopoly that will still be exploited by militants.

The minister is very daft.

Those who made recommendations to him are equally daft.

What does he mean by "chemical" explosives?

What does he mean about explosives that r safer to transport?

What does he mean that "the Chinese company that makes it" ?

All explosives are chemical compounds.

C4 is about the safest explosive to transport, which unfortunately is same mostly used by blasters hence abt d ones boko haram has been accused of stealing.

I'm interested in that unusual Chinese specialized explosive he's talking about.

What does he mean by applying pressure? Who told him I need 10 tons of rock from quarry to set it off when everybody who has basic knowledge in pyrotechnics know what a PRIMER is?

Seeing how stoopeed our leaders are, its not surprising that the nation is a shoddy job.

I guess he made those statements with sense of pride and show-off hoping to impress his listeners. He's just plain stuupid.

in other news the govt decide to ban use of cars because they are used by boko haram for suicide attacks

nice idea, i dont think anyone on this forum had an idea what kind of explosives are being used in mines, i also suggest that fertilizers manufactured are monitored

The Minister obviously is a layman. All explosives are chemical explosives. The explosives used in Nigeria for industrial purposes are mostly catridged explosives(ammonium nitrate-aluminium explosives or catridged emulsion explosives). These 2 types Are presently being produced in d country by d only 2 licensed manufacturers in the country today. The new form of explosives the Minister is referring to is know as Bulk Emulsion explosive. And this as a matter of fact is not a new form of technology. Bulk emulsion explosive is commonly used in Ghana for gold minning. The same company that manufactures bulk in Ghana also exports to Nigeria for sale to minning industries within d country. One of the licensed manufacturers of explosives in Nigeria also produces bulk emulsion and they ve been steadily supplying to certain cement manufacturers within d coountry. So partnering with a chinese firm to develop this technology is no big deal.
Banning the present form of explosives would be almost impossible cos the bulk emulsion explosive will still require this present form of explosives as boosters or primers. As a matter fact bulk emulsion eplosives is cheaper and it's safer to transport. they become active only when they have been charged into holes to be blasted,stemmed and primed and detonating cords connected to them.
However, the problem associated with this form explosive is topography of the minning site. The pump trucks carrying the bulk explosive may find it hard to navigate d topography of certain minning sites. Hence it would be hard to phase out the present form of explosives.

@supereagle. I would like to know d name of the firm concerned. May be I can sell my technology to them. My technology is quite cheap n easy to setup.

^

Tnx 4 bringing up ur superior knowledge . We all agree dt d minister n his advisers r lame. It's also easy to see that they dont hav a solution yet. There r many simple household or industrial chemicals that can b used to make IEDs. As long as its difficult to set control over them all, it will b unwise to some politicians to come out and pretend they hav it all covered when in fact d next bomb blast is just few hours away.

Another law when the existing simplest ones are not complied with? Oh! what a bedeviled nation!