The Senate on Thursday called for tighter safety measures and operational regulations on mining activities in the country.
The Senate passed the resolution in reaction to Sunday’s collapse of a Gold mining site in Farin Doki, Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, where about 30 miners were said to have been buried under the rubbles.
The site, operated by African Mineral and Logistics Ltd, reportedly collapsed on over 50 miners during a downpour, completely burying about 30 of them.
Senator Sani Musa (Niger-East), who moved a motion to draw the attention of the Red Chamber to the severity of incident, informed his colleagues that, “the miners, in their quests for gold and lithium minerals, met their untimely death, as the avalanche caved in, burying them under tons of rubbles.”
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He called for a thorough investigation into the incident in a bid to “identify any existing lapses as they relate to safety regulations and enforcement in the sector.”
The Senate asked the Federal Government to introduce safety measures in the mining sector in line with international best practices, including deploying adequate security apparatuses in mining communities.
The Senate, which commended the Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr Dele Alake, for his response to the incident, also called on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other relevant agencies to “expedite actions on the recovery of the remains of the deceased in the catastrophe to ensure that the bereaved families can have final closure.”
It further mandated its Committee on Solid Minerals to conduct an on the spot assessment of the site to ascertain the cause of the incident and accelerate the passage of the Mine Ranger Bill.
