Why dangerous mining persists in Zamfara

Global Rights is an international human rights capacity building organisation that works with local communities to promote and protect the rights of marginalised people.
Illegal mining resulted in series of lead poisoning in Zamfara State, and this has led to the death of many people between March and June 2010.
The Executive Director, Centre for Community Excellence, Zamfara State, Adamu Kotorkoshi, who briefed the gathering, said about 700 children died during the lead poison crisis in Zamfara State in 210.
Though he acknowledged that government has stepped up safety campaigns and safety kits, that is not enough as there are still a lot of issues in the state.
He said: “Most of the interventions from the federal government are done in Abuja without much consultation with the people affected.
“We have leaders in the National Assembly. But as I speak with you, our senator representing that zone has never visited that community to even commiserate with the people and families of the children that lost their lives. He sits here in Abuja representing that particular Zamfara West Senatorial Zone.
“Our state government isn’t doing much. There’s no good working relationship between the Ministry of Environment at the state and national levels.”
He said the spending of the N800 million earmarked for lead poisoning in Zamfara is not clear, adding that the Mining Act is outdated and implementation is poor. He noted that his people still do the dangerous mining because of government’s neglect of the people and poverty.
In his reaction, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Musa Mohammed Sada, who was represented by the ministry’s Director, Mines Environmental Compliance Department, Engr. Sallim Salaam, denied that government is not doing much to help communities.
“All these issues are covered by Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act. The Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act made it clear the obligations of the mineral title holder. In the area of environment, we have in sections 119, 120, 116, 117 as well as even 71c as well as the regulation.”
He said Section 19 of the Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act makes it clear where a state has mineral resources an environmental management committee established by the Act is present and very active in many states of the federation.
He said compliance is difficult because many miners try to beat regulation officials by even going to mine at mid night. He said government has sunk boreholes in Zamfara to help the people.
“Illegal mining operation is not the function of the federal government alone. The communities themselves have to assist. When government agents are coming, they hide. Some go in the mid night to operate. And communities support it,” the minister explained.
Programme Officer, Global Rights, Precious Eriomiator, said from her assessment visits in mining communities, many places are likely to suffer the Zamfara calamity.
“We don’t want repetition of what happened in 2010 in Zamfara. We create platforms for dialogue for all stakeholders. In 2014 alone, we held town hall meetings in Zamfara, Niger and Ebonyi states. We create opportunity for mining communities to talk directly to government and get commitment from government and companies.
“There are a lot of human rights violations ranging from violation of civil and political rights to economic, social and cultural rights. Many communities don’t have formal community agreement with the mining company but this is a requirement of the Mining Act.
“There is huge lack of regulation on the part of government. Government should pay more attention to protecting host mining community’s rights. Global Rights has studied 20 communities and has discovered that the mining companies are not living up to expectations, especially with regards to Environmental Impact Assessment and their relationship with the communities,” Eriomiator stated.