Northern mining companies accused of using child labour

From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

A field assessment report by the Leadership Initiative for Transformation and Empowerment (LITE-Africa) in partnership with the Nigeria Working Group (NWG) has revealed that a large number of underage children are being used by mining companies operating in some northern states for cheap labour to maximise profit.

The field assessment report, titled “Regional Baseline Study”, highlighted the outcome of an extensive study to assess risks, challenges, and gaps in the respect for the security and human rights of communities in the northern and southern regions of Nigeria by the mining, oil, and gas sectors, with a focus on eight local government areas in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Lagos, Rivers, and Zamfara States.

In the south, the assessment report indicated that the actions of some international oil companies have led to huge environmental destruction, thus exposing the communities to several health hazards that have affected their quality of life.

At the presentation of the report in Abuja, Tolu Oyero, Finance/Administration Manager, LITE Africa, explained that the regional baseline study report provided a contextual analysis of the challenges, limitations, and drivers of human rights violations in some communities that host different mining sites (north) and oil exploration (south).

He said the report also captured data on key stakeholders and highlighted security and human rights issues in the mining, oil, and gas sectors in the northern and southern parts of Nigeria, respectively. Additionally, the findings resulted in targeted sectoral recommendations that might be useful for policymakers and other critical stakeholders to advance the human rights agenda, enhance business and human rights issues, and further aid regional implementation of the Voluntary Principles in Nigeria (VP).

He further confirmed that the findings and recommendations provided are intended to serve as a guide for the development of a National Policy Framework for more effective regulation and oversight of the extractive industry, adding that special emphasis was also canvassed to increase awareness and knowledge of the VPs in Nigeria, improve implementation of regulatory frameworks and standards, promote the enforcement of laws, and improve respect for rights holders living around company operations.

He said: “In the northern region, one major finding was the usage of underage children for labour in virtually all the mining sites. We observed that, for the sake of money or whatever, these underage children abandon education and other activities to dive into the mining sites with no form of safety nor adequate medical services. The skin of these children and the adults, as well as other body parts, are already worn out due to the exposure to the dangerous emissions from the mining sites.

“There are also cases of environmental safety violations which are conspicuous in these locations. Mining sites are not well protected even after mining activities. They are left unattended to; hence, the environment is exposed to severe danger.

“For instance, the company that worked in some mining sites in Kaduna and Zamfara States, for their own convenience and gain, relocated the communities to different locations outside their ancestral land which caused some challenges for the community.

“In Bauchi, a particular Chinese company chose to operate an off-taker module. Instead of making themselves present in the community so they could be held responsible for any violation, they operate through a proxy. They just make money available to some people in the community through the proxy and allow the people to fight against each other.

“These practices are also evident in several other communities. In the south, there are the activities of the oil exploration companies that have led to environmental damage as a result of oil spillage and gas flaring. There’s human rights violation as well as other unfair treatments to the communities.”

He said LITE Africa, which has six thematic areas of focus: Security Sector Reform and Peace-building; Good Governance and Accountability; Human Rights; Sustainable Livelihoods; Development Finance Programmes; Humanitarian Support and Health Services; is closely working with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to increase sensitisation on some of the issues identified during the field assessment.

He also appreciated the support that came from the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance, UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office jointly with the Peace and Human Rights Division of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs through the DCAF Security and Human Rights Mechanism (SHRIM), which led to the success of the project.