The Citizens Free Service Forum (CFSF) has come hard on the Ministry of Solid Minerals on the spate of illegal mining activities that have led to scores of deaths in the country cautioning that if the ministry fails to come up with a pro-active approach to stopping the incidents local communities may start resisting mining operations.
The CFSF made the call through a statement signed by CFSF Executive Director, Comrade Sani Baba in reaction to the latest incident in Bassa local government area of Plateau State where a collapsed mine caused the deaths of 13 young miners.
The incident follows swiftly after the collapse of another illegal mine in a border town between Taraba and Adamawa State.
In a statement issued in Abuja, the CFSF said that it has become worrying that even with the publicity around the introduction of Mining Marshals by the federal government only a few arrests have been made in connection with illegal mining yet new sites of illegality continue to spring up.
“The mine collapse incidents in the north have assumed frightening proportions that match the widespread illegal mining of precious minerals in formerly peaceful communities. The failure of government to nip the crisis in the bud is worrisome because the situation is getting out of hand”, CFSF Executive Director, Comrade Sani Baba said.
The Executive Director further said, that the number of Chinese nationals that have been arrested in Nasarawa and other states of the north for illegal mining indicates the seriousness of the problem, even as he added that foreign nationals are swarming the country in search of solid minerals and give no hoot about the state of the environment or lives lost in their insatiable appetite for solid minerals.
“If the Mining Marshal initiative is as proactive as the media hype that went with its launch we would not be having the spate of mining-related deaths in the country. In the space of three months there have been more than three illegal mines caving in and killing the productive generation of this country. It is simply untenable”, he explained.
The CFSF helmsman suggested a rejig of the operations of the Mining Marshals and recommended that they work in synergy with local communities that are conversant with happenings in their community and can identify those perpetrating illegalities and those working with them.
“It’s now time for the Ministry of Solid Minerals to go beyond talk and get to real work. The real work is being able to fish out the masterminds of the illegal mines and stopping the deaths of young children forced into mining due to the poverty in their communities. If this is not done the communities will start revolting because their right to life and sustainable environment are being violated” , Baba stressed.
