An international organisation, Global Rights, has slammed the Federal Government over the Mineral and Mining Act by not protecting and providing basic amenities for host communities.

OIl spill

This was stated by the Country Director, Global Rights, Mrs. Abiodun Baiyewu, while presenting an assessment report on extractive host communities at a conference of stakeholders in the mining sector.

Baiyewu said host communities were being neglected and their rights abused by operators in the sector. She also raised alarm over the plight of host communities as they will soon experience what happened in Zamfara mining communities.

Baiyewa said: “There is a very slack government policy on the protective rights of the host communities in Nigeria, because of these gaps, mining companies are not living up to their obligations.

“The Mining Act does not make adequate provision for the supervision of artisanal mining activities and also the Ministry of Mining and Steel Development is grossly underfunded to carry out their activities.

“Mining in Nigeria still has a long way to go when you compare to mining in South Africa, Ghana and Australia. If the issues of violation of host communities’ rights are not tackled we will have a repeat of what happened in the Niger Delta and lead poisoning we had in Zamfara State.”

However, the report indicted the government and mining companies, alleging the government and operators were only interested in generating revenue from host communities.

The report also indicated that host communities were being denied of basic amenities and poor government presence, adding that there is no documentation of agreement between host communities and mining companies.

It also alluded to exploitation, lack of health care facilities in host communities, menace of open mining pits, contaminated water sources. Others are teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, premature death, poor agricultural yields, and a host of other environmental issues unaddressed.

The organisation therefore urged government and companies to apply international best practices, to address the existing problems and bridge the infrastructure gaps in host communities.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Musa Sada, represented by Director, Mines Environmental Compliance Department, Mr. Sallin Salaam, however debunked the claims in the Global Rights report.

Sada insisted that government was doing everything to revamp the sector, and deal with mining companies according to the Mining Act.

The Minister also said that field officers of the Ministry in the states have been monitoring activities of operators, and sanctioning erring companies who failed to keep to the regulations contained in the act.

He further stated that most of the companies were carrying out their corporate social responsibilities.

“I disagree entirely with the report being presented by Global Rights. They raised issues of infrastructure, compensation, and environment. All of these are covered in the Mining Act.