Environmental rights group, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has vehemently condemned the death of 37 young miners arrested over alleged illegal mining in Niger State.
Key Highlights
- HOMEF condemns the deaths of 37 young miners arrested over alleged illegal mining in Niger State.
- The group calls for an independent and transparent investigation into the deaths.
- HOMEF links hazardous mining to poverty, unemployment and economic exclusion.
- Nnimmo Bassey warns against replacing oil extraction with mineral extraction that harms communities and ecosystems.
- The group urges stronger protection of forests, farmlands and water bodies from destructive mining.
HOMEF said the tragedy is another warning of the devastating human and ecological costs of Nigeria’s extractive economy.
The group in a statement issued on Wednesday, by its Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey, said that while the cause of the miners death remains subject to investigation, the incident must prompt deeper questions about the conditions that drive young people into hazardous mining and the extractive model that continues to place human lives and ecosystems at risk.
It said the tragedy should not be viewed solely through the lens of illegal mining or security enforcement, but as part of a wider crisis created by destructive extractivism.
“We must stop treating extraction as the pathway to development while ignoring the lives, lands and ecosystems sacrificed in the process.
“Whether it is oil, gold or critical minerals, an economic model that destroys the ecological foundations of life cannot be the future we seek.
“Nigeria must not reproduce the history of the Niger Delta by replacing oil with minerals while leaving communities to bear pollution, dispossession, livelihood losses and ecological destruction.” Bassey noted.
He further states that the deaths underscore the urgent need to address the poverty, livelihood insecurity and economic exclusion that push people into dangerous and informal mining, while confronting the environmental destruction associated with unregulated extraction.
Stopping illegal mining, Bassey said cannot mean simply replacing miners with more destructive industrial extraction, adding that Nigeria must instead question an extractive model that prioritises mineral wealth, while communities bear the costs through degraded forests, polluted water, damaged farmlands, unsafe working conditions and lost livelihoods.”
Read also:
- See Full List Of 37 Miners Who Died In NSCDC Custody
- CISLAC, Transparency International Call For Independent Probe Into Deaths Of 37 Illegal Miners
- Niger Miners’ Deaths: FG Suspends 20 NSCDC Officers, Sets Up 10-Member Probe Panel
HOMEF urged governments at all levels to ensure that no person taken into custody during mining enforcement operations loses their life through neglect or unsafe detention conditions.
HOMEF therefore called on the federal and Niger State governments to conduct an independent and transparent investigation into the deaths of the 37 detainees.
It urged the governments to establish accountability for any violations, negligence or other wrongdoing.
On the socio-economic drivers of hazardous mining, particularly poverty, unemployment and the loss of sustainable livelihood opportunities, HOMEF called for a halt to destructive mining practices that degrade forests, farmlands, water bodies and other ecological systems.
He emphasised that the systems must ensure that mining does not proceed in ecologically sensitive and community-dependent territories.
