The Nasarawa State House of Assembly is set to conduct a fact-finding visit to Abuni and Uke districts in Awe and Karu Local Government Areas respectively after receiving a petition jointly signed by the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI), the Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN) and the Citizens Free Service Forum (CFSF) detailing the state of the mining communities in the two local governments.
In the petition dated October 3, 2024, the groups are calling for a comprehensive environmental audit of Abuni and Uke districts and their source of water, revocation of the mining license of any company found wanting, and need for scrutiny of the agreements reached between the mining firms and traditional rulers in the communities, among others.
The plans to carry out the fact-finding visit was disclosed by the Chair of the Environment Committee, Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Adamu Omadefu, in a meeting in Abuja on Sunday, November 24, with civil society and newsmen where he vowed that despoilers of the environment in the state would not go scot-free.
Omadefu revealed that the committee on the environment which he heads has written already to the State Ministry of Environment to furnish it with a comprehensive list of the mining firms operating in Nasarawa as the starting point of investigation.
While commending the lawmaker for taking the bull by the horn by his decision to lead the fact-finding visit, Executive Director of RDI, Philip Jakpor, said that the developments in the mining communities in Nasarawa State are frightening as the environment and water sources have been adversely affected by indiscriminate extraction.
Jakpor drew the attention of the lawmaker to Abuni where locals complained that the mining firm operating there channeled its wastewater into the Rafin Jaki River that the locals depend on for consumption and other domestic use.
He opined that the situation in the mining communities in Nasarawa is a ticking time bomb which will explode soon except something urgent and meaningful is done about the situation, going further to state that the oil curse in the Niger Delta is being replicated in sordid form through solid minerals extraction in the north.
EDEN Executive Director, Barrister Chima Williams, commended the lawmaker for his passion to nip the situation in the bud, maintaining that only someone who loves the people and believes in them can take up the challenge of addressing their concerns.
Williams reiterated that the civil society community in Nigeria is not against foreign or local investments that make life meaningful for host communities, even as he stressed that such investments must respect the rights of the people, respect their environment and respect the laws of the country.
Echoing similar sentiment, EDEN Deputy Executive Director, Comrade Alagoa Morris, said that the sad developments in the Niger Delta after oil started leaving behind a trail of death and destruction must not be allowed to happen in the solid minerals sector.
Beyond what can be seen physically, in the Niger Delta oil has affected the life expectancy of most individuals leaving them vulnerable to illnesses, Morris added.Â
