The Senate at the weekend vowed to ensure that the mining sector in the country is free of illegal and detrimental activities currently denying the federal government huge revenue and breeding food and physical insecurity.
This is even as the governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umaru Bago, has pledged the readiness of the state to collaborate with the National Assembly to enact legislation that would help sanitise and reposition the sector and make it beneficial to all relevant stakeholders, including the federal, states, LGAs and solid minerals’ rich communities in the country.
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, Senator Sampson Ekong, expressed the commitment to fostering a safe and profitable mining sector by the Senate when he led other members of the panel on a visit to Governor Bago in Minna at the weekend.
The visit to the governor by the committee was in continuation of its investigation into a collapsed mining pit in the state where about 30 lives were reportedly lost and how to stop future occurrences of that nature.
Members of the committee that accompanied Senator Ekong on the visit to Governor Bago are Senators Diket Plang, Amos Yohanna, Professor Anthony Ani, Okechukwu Ezea and Sani Musa (who moved the motion on the mining pit collapse) as well as the clerk to the committee, Mr Paul Kapnam.
Ekong lamented that the activities of unauthorised miners have continued to hinder the federal and state governments from realising the benefits of Nigeria’s projected multi-billion dollar minerals sector.
He said the sector is exponentially threatened by illegal practices such as unauthorised mining with crude systems, environmental endangerment, and unregulated operations that pay little attention to safety or best practices in the industry.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Ekong (PDP – Akwa Ibom South), while outlining the purpose of the visit, said: “Your Excellency, let me also use this opportunity to sincerely commiserate with you and, indeed, the people of Niger State over the tragedy that befell the State on Monday, June 3, 2024, when a mining site collapsed in Shiroro, and which led to several fatalities. Our hearts and prayers continue to abound with you over the unfortunate incident.
“Our visit to Niger State today is a response to the mandate given to our committee, as part of the resolve of the Senate, to undertake an on-the-spot visit to Niger over the ill-fated Shiroro tragedy, ascertain remote causes and engage with critical stakeholders towards averting similar occurrence in the future, chart pathway to sustainable sector development and report same to the Senate, for further legislative consideration.
“It would be recalled that on Monday, June 3, 2024, the nation was engulfed in the grief of the collapse of a mining pit in Galadima-Kogo village in Shiroro local government area of Niger State.
“Many lives were lost, families bereaved and displaced in the fatal rock slide. I must commend the Senator representing Niger East, Senator Sani Musa, for urgently calling the attention of the Senate to the sad incident at plenary.
“The site, it was discovered, belongs to African Minerals and Logistics Limited. The incident was one of the many mining pit tragedies we have had to grapple with in recent times.
“It is with great worry that we must acknowledge that the realisation of the projected multi-billion dollar minerals sector of Nigeria is exponentially threatened by illegal practices in the sector, such as unauthorised mining with crude systems, environmental endangerment and unregulated operations with very little attention to safety or best practices in the industry.”
According to the chairman of the panel, the solid minerals sector of Nigeria has the potential to generate huge revenue for government, diversify its economy and maximally improve the GDP.
However, he lamented that on a daily basis, Nigeria loses so much to illegal mining.
“These illegal, black market-styled minings have also thrown up fresh dimensions to insecurity in the country. It is thus imperative that we work together to arrest these loopholes and help reposition the sector.
“As a Senate, we are reviewing and exploring legislative interventions which will engender sustainable sectoral growth in Nigeria’s mining industry.
“Today’s visit gives us an opportunity to further compare notes with relevant players towards the sector. I want to assure you that the Senate will not be fettered in its commitment to stamping out illegal mining in Nigeria, as well as ensure operational sanity and adherence to standards among practitioners in the sector.”
He commended the Niger State government and the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals for their timely interventions in the Shiroro mishap.
“Their responses were prompt despite the very difficult terrain of the unfortunate site. I urge the state government to further ensure that families of victims are duly recompensed and integrated.”
In his response, Governor Bago, a former member of the House of Representatives, said the state is ready to partner with the Senate and, by extension, the National Assembly to enact legislation that would curb illegal mining, reposition the sector to improve internally generated revenue for government, and equally cater to the needs of communities where solid minerals are being exploited.
Bago said: “Artisanal mining has cost us the loss of lives; it has cost us the loss of properties. It has encouraged a lot of banditry and insecurity.
“Yesterday, we met with stakeholders in the state to start a new initiative called Responsible Mining.
“While I was in Brazil, we got this concept and how it is done so that companies, for instance, who would be permitted to do mining in communities would have to understand that there are post-mining effects.
“So, provision of potable drinking water, not the same water that is used to wash the mines, provision of health facilities, schools, even transition from mud houses to good houses.
“These are some of the initiatives in the new law we are about to pass. We are sure we will pass it, share it with your committee, and probably have you adopt it at the national level.
“So, there is a need for us to have a very responsible mining regime, both at the federal and state level. The first thing we are calling on the Senate and the National Assembly at large to do is to key into this responsible mining bill so that mining will be attractive.
“Distinguished Senators, let me reassure you that our team as a state is very ready to function and partner with your committee.”
