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From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
A civil rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has raised the alarm over the devastating ecological disaster and emerging gullies created by activities of alleged illegal miners at the Umudimisii-Umuoru, Uga Community in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The group called on the Anambra State government to order immediate stop to the mining activities at Umudimisii quarters, so as not to further aggravate the already deplorable condition of the area, owing to gully erosion problems.
In a petition to the Anambra State Governor, Prof Charles Soludo, through the state Commissioner for Environment, on behalf of the community, the group claimed that the indiscriminate and unregulated sand excavation activities had allegedly claimed at least 10 lives in 10 years, submerged dozens of buildings, threatened lives and dwelling homes of thousands of other affluent and downtrodden dwellers, and dangerously itching towards the recently completed Obizi-Uga Water Scheme Road in the community.
The petition signed by the Head, Intersociety, Emeka Umeagbalasi, Human Rights Lawyers, Chidinma Evangeline Udegbunam and Obianuju Joy Igboeli, said the ugly situation, if not brought to an abrupt and final end urgently, would, in the course of time, result into an uncontrollable and massively expanding gully erosion, posing existential threat to the areas above mentioned and their people.
The group said the gully erosion is threatening the lives and homes of thousands of residents and dangerously approaching the recently completed Obizi-Uga Water Scheme Road and adjoining roads.
“Many homesteads in Umudimisii are close to and along the line of the mining by a few metres. The homesteads, as a result, stand to be eroded in the course of this ecological problem fueled by unregulated sand mining. Erosion menace is being triggered by human factors of unregulated sand mining, especially as it is in Aguata-Orumba axis where the sand structure is prone to erosion, which is the major environmental hazard in the region.
“The Nkwo-Obizi Road and St. James-Ugwunwocha-Obizi Road Project, which the Solution Government recently completed in Uga, are now prone to imminent failure/damage due to this unregulated sand mining activities. Affluent individuals from Umudimisii, mindful of the massive sand mining activities going on in the area, would not readily avail their support towards new road projects in the area (as it is done in other communities), only for it to be damaged soon, thereafter, by heavy duty trucks that convey truckloads of sand from the mining site”, the petition said.
It further alleged that sand mining activities at the area had been the major source of all crises in Umudmisii Quarter, Umuoru Village, and Uga generally. It named two individuals who deal in motor and mining businesses as responsible for the illegal activities, adding that due to the devastating gully erosion threatening Umudimisii, people hardly locate their businesses within the locality, thereby making the place dead economically.
“This sand mining seems an attractive venture to our youths due to the quick money it brings. For this reason, one hardly finds our youth learning any meaningful skill, especially life-long skills capable of sustaining them all through their lives.“So long sand mining is allowed to continue at the mining site in Umudimisii, we would, in the near future, turn out a generation of adults who have no skills or sustainable means of livelihood, which may resort to crime to make ends meet”, it stated.
The group urged the state government to direct the appropriate agency capable of handling ecological problems of such nature and magnitude to conduct an on-the-spot assessment of the erosion problem and come up with suggestions on how to end it.
It urged that thorough investigations into the entire activities should include those remotely and openly involved, including government agents, private individuals, and their cartels or firms, while those found culpable in such unlawful activities outside the ‘Community Development Agreements’ and the ‘Environmental Impact Assessment’ should be prosecuted. It urged that the area should be prevented from being turned into solid mineral rooted youth militancy, banditry, and clan warlord-ship now or in future.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Environment, Myclem Aguiyi, promised that the government would look into the appeal, even as he described the alleged ongoing mining activities as “illegal”.
