SEVERAL mining host communities in Nigeria are neglected by mining firms and the Nigerian government that gives them the licence.
This habit contravenes Section 116 (1) of the 2007 Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act (NMMA).
This portion of the Act establishes a Community Development Agreement (CDA) between miners and their host communities. The CDA contains the firms’ corporate social responsibilities to their host communities.
The CDA is important given that Section 44(3) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended) confers the ownership and control of Nigeria’s mineral resources on the Federal Government.
Despite existing laws, rights advocates believe that the CDA has not been effectively implemented, and in addition to the Federal Government’s failure to ensure strict implementation of relevant mining laws, it does not provide basic amenities needed by mining host communities, thereby exposing them to hardship, poverty and right abuses.
These were some of the positions from speakers at a two-day training for over 40 journalists in Abuja by Global Rights Nigeria on Mining and Host Community Rights in Nigeria.
Addressing participants, the executive director, Global Rights Nigeria, Abiodun Baiyewu, said the training sought to keep the media abreast of challenges faced by mining host communities in Nigeria, corporate social responsibility of mining firms to their host communities, and relevant laws guiding mining activities in the country.
“Strong anecdotal evidence suggests that over 90 per cent of artisanal and small-scale mining in Nigeria are unregulated. In this context. It is therefore not surprising that Nigeria annually loses over N9 billion to illegal mining. Worst still, the activities of informal and unregulated artisanal miners are a major contributor to the nation’s growing environmental degradation and pollution.
“While artisanal mining might enrich a few, across West Africa, several mining host communities and their neighbours, especially those with whom they share essential resources, including water and farmland inordinately bear the brunt of their activities including the destruction of alternative livelihoods, increased insecurity and health consequences,” she said.
Baiyewu recalled that in 2010, the unregulated activities of artisanal miners in Zamfara State led to the death of over 400 children and scores others in subsequent years.
The co-chair of the Federation of Nigerian mining host communities, Habibu Wushishi, said survival had been an important issue for mining host communities im the nation.
“What is what happening now is total displacement of communities. This displacement happens because of mineral resources.
“If people are not living in the communities, how do we talk about education and health?” he queried.
He said banditry is associated with mining, and women, children are raped in communities where they struggle to fend for themselves.
The spokesperson for the Niger State Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management claimed that there were 56,000 internally displaced persons in Niger State alone.
“Haliru Sububu who was killed recently was a miner. The influx of people from neighbouring countries into Nigeria is associated with mining.
Wherever these people go, they have a lot of money,” he stated.
He said many drug abuse and communal conflicts had their roots in mining, adding that several communities laid claim to the lands where the resources were.
A member of the Federation of Mining Host Communities, Dr Temitope Olaifa, an associate professor of International Peace and Security from the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, said it was regrettable that economically, communities with large resources were not faring well.
She argued that because such communities could not engage in capital-intensive exploration, they were consequently marginalised.
“You see large companies sitting on the communities, meaning that the money that should go to the communities goes elsewhere.
“At the national level, the money generated from mining, does it get to host communities? No.”
She noted that development eluded these communities and their people were often denied jobs, worsening unemployment and poverty.
“They end up with artisanal mining, which is low-paying jobs, in which there are lots of competitors…The royalty that should go to them is controlled centrally. You see that the communities are left and their socio-economic is jeopardised.”
Olaifa stressed that women lost their foetus prematurely at mining sites. While some died, others got beaten by their husbands because of the pittance they sought to bring home from mining activities.
State coordinator of the Federation of Mining Host Community in Ebonyi state, Francis Orji, an engineer, said before mining started, the only means of livelihood was agriculture. But with the advent of mining, the means of livelihood for communities had been destroyed.
“Mining destroys the villagers’ stream, which is the only source of water. Wastes from mining activities is dumped in the river, denying the communities access to water.
“How can that community survive? So it is the environment that is the issue. As a (former) Commissioner of Solid Minerals, I went into communities in my state. Each time I saw these things, I wept”
Orji said the battle had been between the host communities and the miners, arguing further that the miner was often a moneybag, while the community lacked the resources to fight or confront him.
In July 2024, The ICIR reported how the Dangote Cement firm in Gboko, Benue State, left its surrounding communities in crisis.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2022. Contact him via email @ [email protected].