By Oscarline Onwuemenyi
The Federal Government and stakeholders in the country’s mineral and mining industry have concluded plans to introduce stringent measures to curb illegal mining, in the wake of the recent lead poisoning in mining communities in Zamfara State which led to the death of hundreds of children.

According to a communiqué, which was made available to our correspondent at the end of a one-day Stakeholders’ Forum on Sustainable Mining in Zamfara State, on Thursday, it was agreed that a committee be set up to effectively curb activities of illegal miners in the country.

The communiqué further noted that, “Decisive actions should be taken to completely stop mineral ore processing in the villages.” It charged artisanal and small-scale miners to take advantage of the Ore Processing plant established by the Zamfara State government in order to ensure proper tailings disposal.

It was further agreed that all mineral title holders should produce and submit approved Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation Programme (EPRP) before commencement of mining operation.

Speaking in an interview at the forum, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Musa Mohammed Sada, noted that the Federal Government was not in a hurry to lift the suspension on mining activities in the state, until proper parameters were put in place to ensure that lives and livelihood of citizens in mining communities are protected.

Sada acknowledge receipt of a letter from the Zamfara state government, where it requested for the ban on mining activities placed on the state to be lifted.

“Yes, we have got a letter from the State governor asking us to lift the ban, but we are not going to do that until we set the necessary parameters, and we are clear that everything is put on ground to ensure that we do not have a repeat of what happened in the recent past.

He said, “It is acknowledged that at the wake of the rather unfortunate incident, the Federal and Zamfara State governments and indeed different organizations intervened to ensure that the incident did not escalate.

“The state government in a swift reaction invited the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States and other international non-governmental organizations, which played a significant role in the remediation process.

“Remediation comes when you allow things to go bad; we don’t want to wait until things awry before we act; what we are trying to do is to stop the bad incident that will call for remediation.

According to him, it was important to “bring different stakeholders at a roundtable to fashion out ways to ensure that our God-given resources are utilized in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.

“At the end of this meeting, however, we would come out with a communiqué that will prescribe the dos and don’ts that must have to be respected, before we can decide whether to lift the suspension or not.”

Meanwhile, the Minister has stressed that there would not be any compensation for the victims of lead poisoning in the State, pointing out that they were involved in an illegal activity.

He said, “When you are doing something illegally, and get hurt in the process, how can you talk about compensation? They don’t deserve compensation from government since obviously, it was in the process of illegal mining that they suffered losses.

“I believe that the free medical care, and efforts by government at remediation are good enough; the issue of compensation does not come in here. I want Nigerians to look at these issues critically, in determining what is right and what is wrong, and what deserves compensation and what does not.”

Also speaking at the forum, the Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi, blamed some of the excesses of miners who operate in states on the centralized system of mining operations in the country, noting that state authorities would be better able to check illegal activities of miners where they are allowed a part in the issuance of licenses to miners.

He said, “A number of individuals or companies to whom mineral titles have been issued do not comply with mineral processing regulations. The fact that the host states in which these individuals and companies operate have not been involved in the process of issuance of such titles makes it difficult for the states to enforce strict compliance with the regulations.”

Shinkafi further pointed out that some of the individuals and companies to whom titles have been allocated have not utilized these titles decades, thereby creating room for proliferation of illegal miners who lack the requisite skills, tools and resources.

He, therefore, charged the Federal Government to “strictly enforce the principle of ‘use it or lose it’ and accordingly revoke all licenses not being utilized by their owners,” adding that in the future, extra care should be taken to ensure that license are only issued to serious miners that have met the stipulated requirements in line with global practice.