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From Priscilla Ediare, Ado Ekiti
Women in Mining in Nigeria (WIMIN) and Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) have emphasised the need to safeguard the rights of women and children in the mining sector, noting that women play significant roles in all the value chain processes in the sector.
The organisations which called on the federal government to urgently do the needful in this regard, however, urged the National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) to help find out how the rights of women and children were being abridged, hence undermining them in the extractive sector.
They made this known in a communique issued at the weekend after a 3-day capacity building they organised in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital and signed by Amb. Regina Edzuwah, National Welfare, Women in Mining and Dr Yemisi Ajisafe, the Ekiti State Coordinator, Women in Mining.
Engr Janet Adeyemi, the President of Women in Mining in Nigeria, said the event was organised to equip women with the requisite knowledge and skills needed to initiate and sustain a significant boost in women’s participation in both Artisanal Small-Scale Miners (ASM) and industrialised mining.
The event which had 80 per cent of women in attendance was graced by relevant stakeholders including the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, House of Assembly, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), National Environmental Standards Regulatory and Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Miners Association of Nigeria (MAN), Women in Mining Ekiti chapter and representatives from the Sand, Gemstone, Gravel, Feldspar and Clay sectors.
The communique reads; “The NHRC should work towards increasing awareness of services they render to the citizens of Nigeria. Also, the mining host community should also integrate women in negotiation and issuance of consent and provision of compensation.
“There must be the establishment of gender-responsive policies and systems in companies and cooperatives. Most formal mine sites should begin to establish policies, procedures and rules that increase the security of women and men on sites, increase the status afforded to women mine workers in the community, and provide mechanisms for redress.
“Implementation of legal and policy frameworks that protect the rights of women in the mining sector.
Government should take specific actions for women’s inclusion which should be implemented through the encouragement of women-led mining cooperative societies, integration into the mining sector and overall empowerment.
“There must be psychosocial support to victims of human rights violation, prompt medical care, the establishment of medical facilities and procurement of first aid at the mining site, prompt removal of victims from hazardous mining sites and enforcement of free and compulsory primary education for children.”
They added that the urgent need to safeguard the rights of women and children in the solid mineral sector cannot be over-emphasised because of the significant role they play in all the value chain processes in that area of the economy.
The organisations said that Nigeria must take full advantage of the abundance of diverse mineral resources to grow an all-inclusive economy by adopting responsible mining policies hinged on the principles of good governance, sustainability, equity and fairness.
“The sole aim of this training is safeguarding the Rights of Women and Children in the Solid Minerals Sector by addressing issues such as laws, policies and regulations affecting the mining sector, Gender Rights and Child Rights in the Mining Sector, Mining Financing, and SHE (Safety, Health and
Environment).
“This training is an initiative supported by WIMIN and Open Society Foundation (OSF), among others, to ensure that women are trained and empowered to engage in mineral processing, value addition, and other activities across the value chain. This is in congruency with the plans of the federal government to bring an end to the exportation of unprocessed mineral resources, beginning in 2023.
“WIMIN enjoins the general public to join the campaign to diversify Nigeria’s economy from oil to the non-oil sector, as well as to advocate for impartial treatments resulting from gender bias in the Nigerian solid mineral sector.”
