Executive Director RDI, Philip Jakpor speaking
By Omolara Akintoye
Experts have petitioned Nasarawa State House of Assembly over the mining pollution in Awe and Karu local government areas of the state describing it among other things as an avenue for the exploitation of young girls as young as 13 years for the sexual satisfaction of licensed and illegal miners in the area.
Aside this, the group describe the activities of the illegal miners as a source of environmental pollution and insecurity occasioned by the influx of foreigners in that community.
As a result, the petitioners urge Nasarawa State government to investigate and take urgent action.
Making the revelation at a media Interactive on the State of Mining Communities in Nasarawa State, held recently in Ikeja, Lagos was Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) and its partners – the Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN) and the Citizens Free Service Forum (CFSF).
According to the Executive Director, RDI, Philip Jakpor, Mining in Nasarawa Communities like Abuni and Awe was particularly disturbing as the locals blamed the environmental degradation in the community on Multiverse Mining Company, supposedly Chinese owned.
Philip Jakpor said that the alarm on the state of the environment follows a similar report on Uke district in April 2024 where the locals said the discovery of lithium and gold in their environment had led to despoliation of the environment and strange faces that are making the locals uncomfortable.
Jakpor explained that like Uke, the locals in Abuni community are raising similar worries, particularly their conviction that waste water from the mining site operated by Multiverse, a Chinese firm, may have been responsible for some recent deaths. They based their argument on tests that they were compelled to carry out which showed that the River Rafin Jaki was heavily polluted by chemicals.
His words “Nasarawa State Government should learn from the Niger Delta states where oil impacts had wrought similar devastations instead of its unending sloganeering on the potentials of the state in solid minerals”
Also speaking, the Executive Director, EDEN, Barrister Chima Williams said that the findings and the amateur videos show that violations of the environment are going on unchecked and the local people are totally helpless because they want to be law abiding.
On his part, Executive Director of CFSF, Comrade Sani Baba extolled the patience of the community people in Awe and Karu LGA even as he noted that the findings in the mining communities are disheartening and confirm the organisations long held belief that in the quest for extraction of solid minerals, government at state and federal levels continue to look the other way while extractive firms ruin lands, create insecurity and rob us of our natural resources.
The petition asked the House to compel Multiverse Mining Company to take full responsibility for the clean-up and other remediation efforts on the environment in Uke district and Abuni Community.
Another demand is the need for investigation and scrutiny of agreements reached between the mining firms and some traditional rulers who have through their actions put their communities in jeopardy.
