…As illegal coal miners imperil rural communities
• Over 50 trucks lift coal daily from Awhum site
• Prominent persons in state fingered in illegal mining
• Communities cry out as sources of drinking water are polluted, roads degraded
• Gov Mbah moves in, seals off sites, vows to prosecute culprits, sanitize environment
From Geoffrey Anyanwu, Enugu
From time immemorial, Enugu is known for its coal deposits. It has, indeed, produced coal for countries of the world officially in the past that today it is known as the Coal City state.
When the colonial masters arrived in Enugu before Independence in 1960, they went into coal mining and made fortunes from it. Also coal mining continued at post-Independence until the civil war broke out in 1967, when every activity was disrupted in Enugu and so many other parts of the country.
Today, many have forgotten about coal mining in Enugu after the propaganda that the natural resource was no more useful for energy generation and other uses, making the Federal Government at some time to delete it from the mineral resources of interest in the country, which also led to loss of jobs thereby closing the means of livelihood of many. At least, this was the thinking of many until recently.
Indeed, unknown to many that even live in today’s Enugu State, mining of coal had continued in the state with individuals making fortunes from it allegedly unknown to the state government.
In some cases, some villagers in the communities enter into an agreement with mining companies in connivance with some agents of government to carry out the business.
However, the coming into office by Governor Peter Mbah has exposed the dirty dealings going on across communities in the state where coal deposits are being mined and lifted out of the state unauthorized.
Not only are the coal taken away without due royalties paid to the owners of the land, the local and state government, the environment was also being degraded by the activities of the illegal miners, which has now put the inhabitants of the communities in great danger of environmental disaster, as their land, water and even air have been polluted.
But after hearing the cries of the communities, Governor Mbah directed the sealing off of all the illegal mining sites in the state, which the natives heartily applauded.
And today, about 80 per cent of them have been sealed off and those behind them dragged to court.
After visits to some of the sites with his Committee on Review of Mining Activities in Enugu State, the Commissioner for Environment and Climate Change, Prof Sam Ugwu, raised an alarm that environmental disaster was inevitable in the state if nothing is done to stop the illegal mining going on in the state.
Ugwu who told Sunday Sun that his committee has visited over seven sites and have dragged 12 persons to court, noted that they were still on the visits and will get to all the sites.
He lamented that the illegal deforestation, diversion of water bodies and degradation of hundreds of hectares of land by the miners could trigger ecological disaster if nothing was done to prevent further unregulated mining activities.
The Commissioner had on the day they sealed the mining sites at Nsude in Udi Local Government and Akwuke in Enugu South Local Government, said: “It will take many years for Enugu State to recover from this humongous damage on our environment.
“We are really worried about what is going on, and we are sealing them. These criminal acts are unacceptable. There will be no more activities here. We will be monitoring them morning and evening and ensure the places we have sealed are not tampered with.”
Speaking specifically on Awhum mining site said to be the largest in the state and the feat the committee has achieved so far, Ugwu said: “We have not been able to seal all the illegal mining sites because we have not visited all. We have just visited some up to seven places now and we are yet to conclude the visits. We shall continue our visits next week.
“There’re some places in Ezimo we’ve not visited, there is also another place in Akama Ngwo we’ve not visited. We have up to two or three mining sites in Ngwo, which we are yet to visit. We also have another one in Eziagu which we shall go to next week, so it is a continuous exercise.
“The Awhum mining site is the first we visited; it is a large and expansive mining site there. They have come for discussion, but we gave them certain conditions. The mitigating plans they have because that place has deteriorated environmentally. They’ve degraded the land, the water and the air in that community that is hosting them.
“The Enugu state government is concerned with the low lives of the people not necessarily the economic aspect of it, but the lives of the people. We’ve done some investigations and found out that their activities have really degraded the quality of water that passes through the community there. And the environment there, the land, the air, everything there, has been environmentally effected by the activities of these miners.
“The quality of water there has been affected, the water has been polluted, the land, the air and the road there, so a lot of environmental degradations have taken place in that place, that site.”
On those apprehended he said: “We’ve taken them to court and they’ve been bailed in the court, that was few days ago. We took about 12 persons to court from different mining sites we visited in Enugu State, so we are serious about it.”
Meanwhile, lamenting the disaster the mining companies are causing in the areas, residents and communities across the state are protesting against the activities of the illegal miners, alleging that the miners had been threatening them with security agencies, who make unlawful arrests using operatives illegally attached to protect them at the various sites.
An environmental expert in the state, Amara Victor, said that the mining activities is a time-bomb that would trigger ecological and environmental catastrophe if the state government did not take decisive steps to enforce the closure of the sites.
Also, a soil and environment impact assessor, Engr. Raphael Edeh, who said he had been following the trends of the illegal mining activities, urged the state government to go after the culprits and the insiders, including government officials colluding with them, adding that the state could soon experience landslides and earthquake if no proactive measure was taken.
The environment in certain communities, according to him, were presently contaminated such that farming activities and water could no longer be safe for drinking as the miners had already destroyed their sources.
A community leader in Nsude, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed that there is coal mining going on in the area, saying that he believes it was not done illegally.
He said: “Yes, there is coal mining in my place (Nsude), but it is not illegally done. The company was on television recently explaining that they were not doing illegal mining. You know the state government is looking for every avenue and means to meet its campaign promises especially the target of moving the state economy from $4 billion dollars to $30 billion in eight years.
“The mining thing has its process, the Federal Government has its own share, the state government has its own share and the community also has its share, but I think the state government feels it’s not getting enough or what it’s supposed to get. I overheard the Commissioner saying that they want to harmonize things. But in all I think they are all for the benefit of the state.”
The President General of Awhum Community in Udi Local Government Area, Ralph Ochubelu gave details of how the site in his community said to be the largest of the sites was being run by an American company, Millhouse Energy Services Limited, which has denied the community its due since 2018.
He said: “Actually there is coal mining going on in Awhum since 2018 and I cannot term it all that illegal because I know that the Millhouse Energy Services Limited that is in charge of the mining, we (the community) had an agreement with them. The only thing we observed and what they are doing illegally is that all the terms in the agreement are not being fulfilled. They have not been giving the community what is due to it and even the state has sealed the place now.
“The state government is supposed to be having some dividend from it, local government is supposed to be having their own token, then the community being Awhum, is supposed to be having their own, but nothing is coming in.
“I came in as the PG since 2021 and nothing has happened, even we have been fighting, saying help us, there is one primary school that is dilapidated and we are asking them to help us renovate, though they started since this year, but till now they have not completed it. That is the only thing you can say we are trying to benefit from them, but yet they have not delivered it.
“And they are lifting, at times you can see about 50 trucks out, it doesn’t go everyday like that, some days you can see 10, you can see five. When they started the mining, it used to reach up to 50, 70 a day, but now maybe they said the coal is diminishing, they are lifting up to 10 trucks daily.
“But out of all these things, even the environmental impact assessment we are supposed to be benefitting from because of shooting they are doing there. I as the PG if ever they are doing anything in Awhum, which I’m supposed to know, I don’t know about it, they are not doing anything for the community, we are not benefitting. All the terms in the agreement are not being followed, even in the employment, they are not doing it the way it is supposed to be.”
Asked if the state government is aware of the mining going on there, the PG said: “The state government I don’t know, but I am surprised because I thought they were aware when they started in 2018. But then this incumbent governor came and decided that all illegal coal mining in Enugu State should stop. I met the Commissioner for Environment, he told me that the governor ordered them to visit all the mining sites and ascertain their conditions, why they are there, whether they have certificate and he saw that some of them are illegal. Up till now government has sealed the one at Awhum.”
On the terms of agreement between the mining company, Millhouse Energy Services Limited said to be an American company and the Awhum community, the PG Ochubelu said that there are many things in it, but the major ones are: “For example, in employment, it was agreed that about 20 per cent of the workers should come from our people whenever they want to employ and that they should notify us to supply that but it has been a do or die thing before they will take our people there.
“There is also an agreement on monitoring of the mining and lifting of the coal, like now I cannot give you the actual number of trucks that go out every day, but I am supposed to know it. One of my executives or myself or the town union is supposed to be one of the members of the monitoring group, seeing how they are mining and how many trucks they are lifting every day. But they don’t allow us, they use even soldiers to chase us out. They don’t allow us to come in, that is our problem with them. It is in the agreement that the town should have a representative in the monitoring group, who will be giving the town update of what is going on there, but nothing like that is happening.
“Also in the agreement, it was written that every two years there must be a project the company will execute for the community, but no project has been done since 2018. Even the expiration of their lease is after five years which was in January this year. So their mining permit has expired. Up to now, the agreement we drafted for renewal they are holding and have not come for discussion and renewal, this is the draft.”
Speaking on the damage to the environment, Ochubelu lamented that the only spring water in the area has been polluted in the course of the mining.
He said: “We were told that the impact of what is going on now will be felt in the next 10 to 15 years time. You see that site they are now, it is the main stream of the whole community, we call it Iyioku, it’s spring water, very neat water. But now this mining there has contaminated it, it’s not clean any longer. Unless you have borehole and if you have borehole within that place it is still nonsense. All these they are supposed to do something to take care of the health hazards they are causing, but to no avail. They felt less concerned.”
The Awhum PG also complained that the Millhouse Energy Services Limited even subletted the mining site to another company, African Pit Quarry (APQ) without notifying the community.
“We only knew of the subletting when we visited there some time ago, so it is APQ that is mining now though it is still Millhouse that is in charge,” he lamented.
He said that the community is suspecting that some people from the area are behind the actions of the mining company in reneging in their agreements, saying that they are hopeful that with the intervention of the state government which has sealed the mining site, those behind their shady deals would be exposed.
He said: “This your question now, we are even suspecting, but we don’t know, it is only them that can know if some people are coming behind to represent the community and taking whatever that is supposed to reach to the community, it’s them that know, we don’t know. I wish that with what is happening now if ever there are such things they will be exposed.”
The PG disclosed that the community is happy with the state government for the intervention and is also liaising with the government to ensure that things are done appropriately, if the company will continue to mine in their land.
“We have hope that through the state government everything, if they are going to continue, they are going to do it normal in the way that the state government, the local government and the community, all will get their own due.
“So we are liaising with state government and we have even told the government that we are benefitting nothing.
“I appreciate and commend the state government for its intervention which has opened the eyes of the people of the state to know things they don’t know that have been happening around them.
“I really appreciate them, with their intervention we can see it’s not to wicked anybody, but to ensure that things are done with due process and for the benefit of all,” he said.
A resident of Akwuke, who declined to be named for fear of attack, said that it takes courage to do what Governor Mbah did, stating that those sites are owned by many prominent people in the state and the government are aware of it.
“You see, I am not a fan of Governor Mbah, but for this courage he exhibited, I commend him. Those sites are owned by the bigmen in the state the government that left was aware of them and their activities and I want to believe that they had their shares. Look at the nonsense they are doing here in Akwuke, causing problem here and there. Messing up the environment and contributing nothing to the community. Look at the roads, their big trucks have spoilt everywhere, but they can’t repay or do a new one.
“I just want to hope that this government is serious to stop all these and not a ploy to negotiate their own and things would continue the same again,” he said.