A DEADLY mining accident has claimed the lives of 13 miners in Bassa Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State, following a recent collapse of an artisanal mining site.
This latest tragedy highlights the ongoing dangers within Nigeria’s largely unregulated mining sector, where miners often work without proper safety protocols in place..
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the chairman of the LGA, Joshua Riti, confirmed this to journalists in Jos on Monday, November 11.
Riti, expressing sadness over the number of deaths, reported that the incident took place last Saturday, with seven of the victims identified as residents of Bassa Local Government Area.
He noted that the victims, whom he identified as mostly young people ( between 18 and 30 years old), were merely seeking a means of livelihood.
“They went out to put their energies to good use to sustain and meet up with the current economic hardship in the country but met their untimely death.
“I wish to extend my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones affected by this tragedy,” Riti was quoted to have said.
The ICIR reports that despite existing mining regulations, enforcement has remained minimal in most parts of the country, where many mining activities fall under the radar of federal and state authorities. Accidents at artisanal mining sites, such as this one, continue to be a recurring issue, yet previous government assurances to regulate and monitor the industry more effectively have yet to materialize.
In June 2024, three persons died in Paikoro, Niger state, when an illegal mining pit collapsed, trapping several persons underground.
In the same month, about 50 people were trapped when a mining pit, which was about 400 metres deep, collapsed in Shiroro LGA of Niger State.
The ICIR investigation revealed that despite casualties from such collapses and repeated warnings by the government and security agencies, more young people are driven into illegal mining due to poverty, unemployment, and inadequate oversight by regulatory bodies.
This was as many children under 18 were either forced or induced into this unregulated artisanal mining, where their rights are being violated.
The purchase of mineral resources by big players from unlicensed miners across the country not only shortchanges the government but also encourages child labor, which contradicts international labor laws that Nigeria is bound by, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Article 32 of the convention provides for the protection of children from “economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.”
More than one million children are engaged in child labour in mines and quarries, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The ILO describes this activity as “a serious violation of children’s rights that puts children’s health and safety at risk and deprives them of an education.”
Regardless of extant local and international laws that protect people under 18 years from being used for such labour, children and teenagers crawl in and out of illegal mining pits in Paseli and Taluwa aiding illegal miners in their slow, tedious manual extraction of minerals.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M