Speaking in the same vein, another female miner, Amina, said: “This business has come to stay with us and we have also come to stay with the business since we have nothing to do again. In the past, we were jobless and now that Allah has blessed us with this job, we can’t but stick to it. In other words, nothing can separate us from this business.”
The horror that unfolded in Niger State a few weeks ago expectedly elicited shock and outrage across the country.
The tragic reality of many men, women and children who were excavating a rocky dune for gold and other solid minerals meeting their sudden death when the rock descended on them is one many people are still trying to come to terms with.
But then the tragedy underlines the fact illegal mining in Niger State has become a way of life and a trade that has refused to go away despite all attempts by successive administrations in the state to nip it in the bud. Although the illegality is a lucrative source of livelihood for the miners, it has remained like a bad omen, leading to frequent death and causing harm to the environment as well as giving the state a bad name. It is like an ill wind that blows nobody any good.
But the illegal miners are not perturbed by this as they daringly set out each day in their quest to line their pockets with the illicit cash that flows from the gold mines. On a daily basis, one finds minors and adults scouring the earth in search of gold, lithium and expensive minerals which they greedily sell to earn a living.
More worrisome is the involvement of pregnant women and juveniles, male and female, in the illegal business. Many of these youths, who can hardly differentiate between a stone and a piece of gold, are nevertheless deeply involved in the illegal business and have since abandoned school in order to make quick buck from the gold rush. They act more like “gold diggers” even though they don’t know anything about the process of mining. The more unfortunate thing about this is that these ‘miners’ are being paid a pittance by some local and international merchants to scan the soil for the minerals, with many of them, dying painfully in the process.
Sadly, the situation for these “workers” who have been more or less turned into slaves, is that most of them toil endlessly for days and go back home without any money.
But they seem not to be bothered by the agony they pass through daily as long as they are given some form of token by those who use them to seek a fortune from the mining pits.
They seem to be more motivated by the common maxim that “tomorrow will be better” even if it takes one to two weeks before they eventually smile home with a token.
For instance, on June 5, this year, no fewer than 30 persons reportedly lost their lives when a mining pit suddenly collapsed and killed the people excavating for gold and other minerals at Galadima Kogo in Niger State.
Beyond those who were killed instantly, others were trapped in the collapsed pit, while many others remain unaccounted for as at the time of filing this report.
But the good news at the moment is that all of this is about to end, as the Niger State Governor, Muhammed Umar Bago, has at last decided to take the bull by the horn by totally dislodging the illegal miners and their collaborators.
Apparently reading the body language of the governor, the state Ministry of Mineral Resources has begun waging a total war against illegal miners by making some arrests and also confiscated their tools of illegal operations.
As part of that move, the state has already arrested and profiled no fewer than 33, who have also been dragged before a Minna court over illegal mining.
Before then, government had early this year suspended all forms of mining in all parts of the state and directed all companies operating in its domain to also vacate their sites and present themselves for profiling at the appropriate quarters. Despite that order, most of the perpetrators paid no attention to the government order but continued with their illicit operations.
AV recalls that in one of the raids led by the state Commissioner for Mineral Resources, Garba Sabo Yahaya, many were arrested and some of their tools taken away by the government.
Similarly, another raid led by the Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Yunusa M Nahauni with top ministry officials and security agents ransacked the Gurusu area and succeeded in apprehending eight individuals involved in illegal mining activities and also seized an array of equipment, including two pumping engines, 18 water bowls, 12 shovels, six head pans, one rubber machine, one wheelbarrow, one sledgehammer, and a small hammer.
Furthermore, during their visit to two crushing sites, the team discovered one abandoned location and confiscated a pumping machine, a bag of sand products, and three shovels from another site while at FM road, the crack team also uncovered two car batteries, 31 jerry cans filled with chemicals, two wheelbarrows, four water bowls, 12 shovels water pumps, three rolls of water hose among other and all were confiscated.
The raid ended with the arrest of 12 men, eight underage boys and 18 women (seven of whom were underage), for their involvement in illegal mining activities.
Besides, a Minna Chief Magistrate Court One Presided over by Ummulkhaltume Mohammed has convicted 30 persons to one-month community service for engaging in illegal mining along Maitumbi area in Minna Niger State.
The suspects according to the Police first information report were arrested by a task force team attached to the state Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources recently.
They were arraigned before the court on two count charges bordering on criminal conspiracy and illegal mining which contravenes section 97, and 474 of the Penal Code law.
Police prosecutor, lnspector Bello Mohammed, told the court that some of the suspects were minors and house wives who had earlier confessed to the crime.
The suspects pleaded guilty to the charges, saying that they were struggling to make ends meet, while some of the suspects told the court that they use the money realised to pay for their school fees and pleaded with the court for leniency.
The Magistrate Ummulkhaltume, while considering their plea, convicted the suspects to engage in general cleaning of Maitumbi Primary School and Day Secondary School for the period of 30 days under the supervision of Sakin Hausawan maitumbi, adding that any person who defaults will be liable to pay a fine of N5 million.
The Magistrate however frowned at the security agents for only arresting the miners without the buyers of their products, adding that without buyers there would be no miners and the convicted persons were made to write an undertaken not go back to the business.
But despite the clampdown on these illegal miners by the government, most of them have vowed never to quit the business no matter the steps taken by government.
“We don’t have any other business to fall back on if we are forced out of this. We need to feed our husbands, children and by extension our extended family members and this is the only means we have,” one of the female miners, Zainabu, informed.
Speaking in the same vein, another female miner, Amina, said: “This business has come to stay with us and we have also come to stay with the business since we have nothing to do again. In the past, we were jobless and now that Allah has blessed us with this job, we can’t but stick to it. In other words, nothing can separate us from this business.”
“Since my husband lost his job few years ago, he had been doing nothing at home. Though he is a small scale farmer, his annual proceeds cannot sustain us even for six months and I have been sustaining our family by way of feeding, paying school fees of the children and other domestic expenses in the past years with the little I get from here; so quitting the business will not be possible,” another miner, Halima vowed.
A teenager, Aisha in her own submission said she abandoned school for the mining site since her parents could not pay her school fees again.