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• As miners lay siege on Taraba
From Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
Taraba State ought to have been a special gift to Nigeria. But it is not. It has a vast landmass, a climate conducive to agricultural practices and a deposit of diverse natural resources. But the problem is that these resources are in many cases, plundered by desperate miners including foreigners.
Investigation by Daily Sun indicated that mineral resources such as barytes, bauxites, graphites, galena (leadore), limestone, gypsum, kaolin, feldspar, mica, pyrite, uranium, gold, sapphire, tourmaline, amethyst, topaz, garnet and agate are found in commercial quantities across the state.
It is also a fact that the topography and climatic condition of the state are friendly to the cultivation of diverse crops and husbanding of several livestock. The state is renowned for maize, sorghum, millet, soybeans, peanuts, sesame seeds, rice and other grains, including tubers such as yam, cassava, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes and carrots.
Similarly, the state boasts of high production of palm kernel, sugar cane, avocado, oranges, mango, apple tea, coffee, citrus, hibiscus tomato and pepper. There is also a wide range of vegetables and timbers. This is besides having a concentration of livestock such as cows, goats, sheep, birds and fishes.
However, rather than enrich the populace with these natural gifts and generate prosperity for all, these resources, especially the deposits, were plundered in the last few years in a manner not only alarming, but constituted huge risk to the environment and the host communities.
Desperate to make big money, plunderers under the guise of miners besieged communities and wreaked unconscionable hurt on their resources. The miners, mostly unlicensed and lacking in any professional training, paid little or no attention to basic mining rules. They oftentimes left behind gaping gullies after extracting their target interests.
Areas such as Gashaka, Sardauna, Ussa, Takum and several others, which have been choice locations for the illegal miners, are dotted with very sad index of their exploits. Sources said the miners have operated unchallenged for several years: “They sometimes come accompanied by security personnel who are in haste to descend on any challenger.”
Forest reserves are not spared. The sources: “They have been equally plundered. The rush for rosewood and other timbers and have turned a whole forest into an open field- marked with tree stumps as a reminder of what was in existence.”
Governor Kefas Agbu recently set up a taskforce on illegal mining and deforestation to enforce a ban on mining activities and felling of trees. The taskforce is chaired by General Jeremiah Faransa (rtd). He said: “These illegal miners have caused damages to the environment in most parts of the state.
“They are notorious for not complying with set rules guiding mining activities. Many places and sites where they have operated areno longer usable either for farming or other activities.
“What we have seen in the field is terrifying, simply terrifying! For instance, miners have excavated Akwana on both sides such that if there is any security threat, the people will be at extreme risk because there will be no escape route. We have to correct this trend. Those miners are not from here and have no issue with destroying the land just to get what they want and leave.
“Our situation is similar to that of Ogoni land (Rivers State) that is completely destroyed and that of Zamfara State where mining activities have created insecurity at a level that is unbearable. For instance, you are supposed to refill the land for up to eight per cent after excavation, but this is not done by the miners. They just do their thing and go.
“The community development is also not done, contrary to the set guidelines. This is our state. What is the state benefiting from these activities? Billions have been taken out of the state with nothing accruing to us.
“This must stop. We must make sure that things are done right, otherwise, there won’t be business as usual. It is either the right thing is done or the battle line is drawn. We are not stopping investors in any sector but due process must be followed to ensure environmental protection and the people’s safety.
“Most of our children who are supposed to be in school have been turned into overnight miners because they offer very cheap labour. The risk is that we are unconsciously grooming criminals as we have seen in other parts of the country.
“I was in Gashaka I met with the company mining in the area and we went round. The terrain inhibited us from going to certain areas. Most mining sites are inaccessible. The game reserve is no longer there. It is gone. It has been taken over by farming and mining activities.
“In Mayo Seni, the company continued with its activities, despite the order from the state government. We caught the said company still excavating. We arrested them and recovered over 32, 000kg of blue sapphire. While most companies complied, some of them felt they were too powerful to be disturbed.
“More than 100 persons have been prosecuted. The problem is that the prisons are filled so we only take the ring leaders and foreigners to send to court.
“We discovered that some of the residents were carried away by the little stipends paid by the miners. They were intimidated by the threat of harassment by the security personnel attached to the company, resulting that they looked the other way while their lands were being plundered.
Yunusa Ali, a resident of Akwana in Wukari Local Government: “The people came here and said that they were from the Federal Government. They came with security men guarding them. None of us could say anything. If you challenge them, the security personnel would beat you and leave you under the sun for days.
“I also understand that they told some of our leaders that they would build schools and do other things for the community, but they didn’t do anything. They have destroyed our lands completely. We worry constantly for our children who always want to go and play at some of the abandoned sites. They might get killed if they fall. The gorges are very deep and dangerous.”
Samuel Adamu is an economist: “From a professional point of view, I think these plunderers were allowed to operate for too long for reasons that are not very clear. Mining in Taraba State, for instance, was made an all comers’ affair. Once you have a digger and shovel, you are a miner and could start digging any choice place for what you can get. That is terribly wrong.
“Because of the level of poverty, it is very easy to recruit even minors to do the dirty jobs. So people who are mostly from outside the state, including even foreigners had had a field day digging up the state, plundering its resources.
“We are talking about gold, sapphire taumaline and several other treasured mineral resources and precious stones taken out in very large quantities from the state and in no way accounted for or properly documented by the government.
“If these mining activities had been properly streamlined and the state government had properly regulated activities of the sector, I am sure that the state would have been far richer and better than it is at the moment.”
