The Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) and its partners, the Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN) and the Citizens Free Service Forum (CFSF) have sent a petition to the Nasarawa State House of Assembly asking it to conduct an investigation into mining impacts in Uke district and Abuni community in Karu and Awe Local Government Areas.
The groups said that they received Save Our Souls messages from indigenes of the two local governments indicating that mining firms there act with impunity in relation to the environment and the rights of the locals to safe environment.
At a hybrid media interaction on the status of mining in Nasarawa communities held in Lagos, RDI Executive Director, Philip Jakpor said that the alarm on the state of the environment follows a similar report on Uke district in April this year where the locals said the discovery of lithium and gold in their environment had led to despoliation of the environment.
“What makes Abuni unique is the abundance of solid minerals in its landscape, making it one of the communities that contribute to the revenue earnings of Nasarawa State from solid minerals. The minerals found in the community include lead, copper, zinc and lithium,” Jakpor said.
He explained that like Uke, the locals in Abuni community are raising similar worries, particularly their conviction that waste water from the mining site operated by Multiverse, a Chinese firm, may have been responsible for some recent deaths. They based their argument on tests that they were compelled to carry out which showed that the River Rafin Jaki was heavily polluted by chemicals.
The RDI boss said the Nasarawa State Government should learn from the Niger Delta states where oil impacts had wrought similar devastations instead of its unending sloganeering on the potentials of the state in solid minerals.
Isah Abubakar, from Awe LGA in his intervention, said that the pollution of the river is already impacting fishing as most of their catch show signs of chemical contamination.
He said that the community is also experiencing indiscriminate rock blasting that is affecting the integrity of the houses and insecurity due to the strange faces trooping to the mines for work.
Tarfa Awe, also from the community, said that they also lack basic social amenities including good roads, hospitals and schools, which collaboratively keep them pauperised.
This situation according to Tarfa, is responsible for the exploitation of young girls in the community by the miners who lure them with gifts for sex.
He also bemoaned the lack of electricity in the community while the Chinese firm enjoys uninterrupted power supply.
EDEN Executive Director, Chima Williams said that the findings and the amateur videos show that violations of the environment are going on unchecked and the local people are helpless because they want to be law-abiding.
Williams noted that the situation in Uke and Abuni reinforces the call for the establishment of Mining Monitors comprising the mining host community, Ministry of Mines, Civil Defence, among others to monitor the mining sites and routes.
In his address, Executive Director of CFSF, Comrade Sani Baba extolled the patience of the community people in Awe and Karu LGA even as he noted that the findings in the mining communities are disheartening and confirm the organisation’s long held belief that in the quest for extraction of solid minerals, government at state and federal levels continue to look the other way while extractive firms ruin lands and create insecurity.
“We are particularly worried about the pollution of water and reported deaths of the locals in Awe LGA. The situation must not be allowed to deteriorate further and we cannot sacrifice the lives of our people and particularly that of our kids for the greed of mining firms,” Baba said.
The text of the petition to the House detailed eight key demands including the need for a fact-finding visit to Abuni community with particular attention on the communities around the mining sites and the Rafin Jaki River, as well as Uke district.
They also want a comprehensive environmental audit of Abuni community, Uke district and environs including their source of water and farm environment, and the revocation of the mining license of Multiverse Mining Company if the investigation shows it breached Nigeria’s environmental laws.
The petition asked the House to compel Multiverse Mining Company to take full responsibility for the clean-up and other remediation efforts on the environment in Uke district and Abuni community.
Another demand is the need for investigation and scrutiny of agreements reached between the mining firms and some traditional rulers who have through their actions put their communities in jeopardy.
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