By Oladele Oladipupo
Nigeria, the most populous African nation is blessed with abundant mineral resources which are yet to be tapped. These resources include but not limited to the following: Gypsum, Gold, Lead, Granite, Iron Ore, Cobalt, Lithium, Magnesium and Columbite. The federal government, in an effort to revamp the ailing economy is contemplating on diversifying the nation’s economy by exploring the economic potential in mining sector which is a right step in the right direction. This action can be seen in the recent bill that was sponsored and presented by one of the lawmakers in the National Assembly. The bill is to ensure adequate funding for mineral resources exploration and extraction through public-private-partnership. One of the objectives of the bill is to make sure that our mining sector reaches its full potential, creating jobs, fostering economic growth and enhancing Nigerians self-sufficiency in mineral sector. The primary goal is to secure adequate funding for exploring and extracting Nigeria’s abundant mineral resources through public-private sector participation. The bill will also provide for the creation of a technical management and advisory council comprising experts in law, geology, mining engineering, banking, and civil engineering.
It is my conviction that once this bill is passed into law, it will definitely solve most of the challenges in the mining sector. For instance, today the sector is being dominated by illegal miners who are not professionals. These set of miners operate in an unsustainable way and are engaged in unethical practices; not only that, they also do not operate in line with international best practices.
Even some so-called professionals who possess valid mining licence do not operate in accordance with the federal government’s regulations. For instance, there have been cases of some mining companies that do not operate in line with international best practices. A recent example is the pathetic story in the Vanguard of January 7, concerning a registered mining company operating in Ebonyi State. According to the story, two communities in Ebonyi State, Enyigba and Ezza, have a large deposit of lead which is supposed to be a blessing but unfortunately, it has brought untold hardship and misery to the two host communities. A mining company was granted a licence by the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals to mine lead in the two communities. As a result of their unsustainable practices, the two communities have been seriously devastated with the sources of their drinking water and soil contaminated by lead. In fact, many people in the two host communities have been afflicted by lead-related ailments, resulting from the eating crops, vegetables, fruits, tubers, grains harvested in the two places and drinking polluted water. One of the community leaders in Enyigba Community Chief Ewa Nworie was quoted to have said: “We are not finding it easy to live in this community. Lead pollution is affecting both our health and farm produce, our water is already polluted and the soil is contaminated by lead”. The people in the two communities are now appealing to the federal government to come to their aid.
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After reading the story, I came to the following conclusions:
First, An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project was conducted in line with the EIA Act CAP E12 LFN 2004; however, the mining company failed to comply with the recommendations in the EIA document;
Second, mitigation measures that were recommended in the EIA final report were not put in place.
Third, most of the people in the host communities have been afflicted by lead related ailments resulting from eating contaminated crops.
Fourth, the mining company refused to fulfill the provisions in the agreement which they signed with the state government and the host communities where they promised to provide hospital, schools, potable water, electricity and employment.
Fifth, there was no proper monitoring of the activities of the miners by those that are saddled with the responsibility.
I think it is important that the federal government take a drastic action by revoking their licence as well as closing down the mining sites and compel the miners to remediate the mining sites. Recall that similar incident happened in Zamfara State a couple of years ago where thousands of children died of lead poisoning and eventually, the mining sites were closed down. Lead is a highly toxic metal, it could be absorbed through the skin, respiratory organ and digestive system. It bio-accumulates in the body organs, tissues and saliva. Research has shown that young children are particularly vulnerable to lead and it can lead to permanent adverse health impact particularly in the development of the central nervous system.
Various research findings have also indicated that lead causes long term harm in adults, including high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, renal failure, respiratory disorder, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and stroke. In recent times, humans are exposed to lead through the food chain by consuming plants or fruits grown in the lead environment or animals that graze on grasses around lead mining areas. It is important that the people in the host communities are educated and enlightened to know that some of the plants they eat contain lead which could harm them in future.
Mining causes environmental degradation across the world not only in Nigeria but also in Asian countries. Therefore, miners need to be checkmated so as to adhere to the relevant mining laws. The federal government has put in place some instruments of intervention in order to ensure sustainable mining in Nigeria. These include but not limited to the following: the National Policy on Environment, the National Guidelines and Standards for Environmental Pollution Control in Nigeria, the Enactment of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act CAP E12 LFN 2004 which makes it mandatory for proponents of all new major development activities to carry out an EIA for their proposed project and Development of EIA Sectoral Guidelines for the Mining, Manufacturing, Energy and Agricultural Sectors.
I would like us to cast our minds back to what happened in New York State in the early sixties where industries were dumping toxic wastes into Love Carnal River. Later, pregnant women around the carnal were giving births to deformed babies – without limbs, nose, mouth and genital organs. Also in the early 1970s in Japan, a lot of people died of “Minimata disease” due to the application of mercury in cultivating rice. We need to take pro-active measures in order to avert such a disaster. Therefore, I am suggesting that any mining company that refuses to comply with the nation’s environmental laws should be sanctioned and have its licence revoked.
Finally, the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals should make sure that the mining companies are monitored to ensure that they carry out their mining operations in line with international best practices.
