Abandoned excavator at Igun
“My legs are aching me so badly,” Jegede uttered, frustration written all over his face as the sun unleashed its venom on his tiny, little frame. “This is how long we trek almost every day when trucks don’t supply pure water to our village. On such days, my friends and I could go up to two to three times just to ensure that there is enough drinking water in the house. But no matter how hard we try, it is never enough for our family needs,” he said.
It had been several days since trucks last distributed sachet water to Owu-Epe, their hometown. In the face of no viable alternative, many boys in the community have to embark on a frantic search in distant villages because the two water projects sited in their town no longer serve any useful purpose. Community leaders told Saturday PUNCH that their water source became contaminated shortly after the completion of the borehole project following the invasion of illegal miners on their land who scavenge for gold. Owu-Epe is home to an enormous deposit of the precious metal but sadly, that is where it ends. The town is grappling with poverty and deprivation on several fronts and the presence of unauthorised miners in the area now adds to their list of worry.
Defaced environment
“They have destroyed our land,” Sunday Durojaiye, a traditional chief and one of the town’s leaders told our correspondent. “Our farmlands, water source and even roads, they have damaged everything. It is very painful to watch strangers steal all our gold while we wallow in poverty.
“Our roads are in a shambles while we enjoy no social amenity in this area. The government has abandoned us, allowing illegal miners to destroy our land and environment. As a result of their activities, our water has been polluted including the well from where we fetch water to take care of domestic needs. Our only means of water now is ‘pure water’ and when trucks don’t supply us, we suffer.
“We have been pleading with the government to help us but all we get are empty promises, nothing concrete. Several times we have alerted the police and even got some of the miners arrested but the next day, you will find more of them in that same area wrecking bigger havoc on our environment. We are tired of the situation,” he said.
Babatunde Adejuwon, another prominent face in the community also expressed worry at the current state of events. The presence of strangers who come to prospect for gold illegally on their lands, he says, threatens not just their sources of livelihood but safety as a people, too.
“The miners are taking us for a ride,” he said. “They have no respect for our traditions and customs as a community. Our land is so blessed with gold but why should we suffer while strangers enrich themselves with it?
“We are farmers and a few of us are into trading as well. These strangers destroy our plantation and environment. If we chase them during the day, they would wait till night before going back into our farmlands to dig for gold. It is a big problem we are facing,” he said.
A community of over 5, 000 residents, Owu-Epe is not the only town bleeding from cuts inflicted upon it by illegal miners, there are several villages along the axis that also bear the brunt of the illicit trade. At Igun, another village with enormous deposits of gold, our correspondent saw hectares of farmlands that have fallen to the diggers and shovels of the unskilled miners. Riddled with huge gullies, many parts of Igun bear signs of fatal degradation. Abandoned pits now form toxic lakes everywhere one turns to in the ancient town, leaving locals to wallow in poverty following the destruction of farmlands which is the main source of income for many families.
Empty promises
“Igun used to be a beautiful place,” Oba Sunday Ajilore, traditional ruler of the town told our correspondent. “Many of us grew up finding out that we were blessed with gold. When some government officials came from Jos, Plateau State several years ago, we believed and trusted that they were going to develop our community. They told us that they were going to build roads and make life comfortable for us. But till this moment, none of those promises has been fulfilled.
“It’s been over 25 years and our people are still waiting to see those promises. Our land was invaded and destroyed by the mining companies and now the illegal gold diggers won’t allow us to have peace. They have polluted our water; we can no longer drink from it because it is unsafe.
Some illegal miners and their equipment at various stages of work at Owu-Epe and Igun
The Nigerian Gold Mining Company, a subsidiary of the Nigerian Mining Corporation and Livingspring Mineral Promotion Company Limited are among firms that have explored gold in Atakunmosa West in the past. At Igun, our correspondent saw heavy-duty equipment abandoned by NGMC when they left the area 16 years ago. They looked rusty and covered by weeds.
“But the government must share the biggest part of the blame. They are the ones who empower these illegal miners by selling tickets to them on daily basis. The local government sells tickets to the miners and that’s why they can’t do anything about the issue,” he said.
Poverty everywhere
Like Owu-Epe, Igun lacks a functional hospital, a secondary school, potable water, roads and other basic social amenities that make life worthwhile despite being blessed with so much gold. The people live in poverty, wuth daily survive. Many households survive on less than N500 a day. The bulk of that sum goes into providing water and food ingredients. To support their families, many women have taken to petty trading in Ilesa while the men sign up to menial jobs in nearby towns.
Peter Oluduro, another leader in the town told Saturday PUNCH that successive administrations at every level of governance have done nothing to address their sufferings. He said they have been left at the mercy of illegal miners who invade their land and steal their common wealth – gold.
“If our government were sincere, our community would have been very beautiful going by all the promises they have made to us. We have benefitted nothing from the government over the years despite all the wealth that has been taken from our land.
“There is nothing in our hospital which is about 50 years old. There is no single drug there. The health workers don’t even come regularly because there is nothing for them to work with. My daughter who fell into labour recently was rushed to Ilesa because the hospital cannot even take care of her. The situation is that bad,” he said.
Ajilore, Durojaiye
“I was introduced to this business when I was 15 by my brothers,” Hassan Ahmed, 23, told our correspondent who stumbled on him and his gang in the forest through the help of a commercial motorcyclist who understands the terrain. “Two of them died in Niger State when the pit they were inside collapsed on them,” he continued. “Before we noticed and could rescue them, they were dead already. It was a bad experience for me as a little boy then but it did not make me stop the job because I have to survive.
“Recently, I was badly injured when a pit I was inside collapsed on me. I still feel pains all over my body but I have to continue or else there would be no food for me. If I am able to raise enough money to buy a motorbike, I would leave this job,” he said.
Ahmed had a deep cut on his palm when he climbed out from one of the pits on the field. A sharp object had inflicted a two-centimeter wound on his right hand while sifting through mud in search of the precious metal. With no analgesic within reach, he simply tied a rag on the cut, before hitting it hard with a small stick.
“That would stop the bleeding,” he said, turning to our correspondent with a friendly gaze. “This is part of what we face every day on this job. Many of us did not attend school and so this is the only means we know by which to feed ourselves. But I don’t plan to continue with this job for long, it is killing me gradually,” he said.
At 27, Sanni Mohammed, is another young man whose hope of an instant jackpot at Owu-Epe’s gold field is gradually turning into frustration. Journeying from Kaduna to the area in search of a new life, Yusuf told Saturday PUNCH that the trade is no longer as lucrative as it used to be.
“On several days we dig for hours without finding a trace of gold. But sometimes when luck smiles on us, we could leave the field with N2, 000 each. But for several weeks now, all we get after digging for so long is not more than N1, 200 when sold. By the time the group shares the money, each person could get around N300, it is from that money that we feed and buy drugs,” he said.
Land owners aid the crime
To prospect for gold on any land, miners, working in collaboration with middlemen who buy from them and sell in the black market in Ilesa, Ife, Jos, Ghana, Benin Republic and other neighbouring countries, pay the owners an agreed amount ranging from N10, 000 to N40, 000 for a period not more than six months to dig the area. The middlemen who are also referred to as dealers in the area, buy each point at N400, selling them five times higher to others who finally process into finished products. But on days when things fall apart between the miners and land owners, there is chaos.
“Sometimes when there is disagreement between the owner of the land we are working on and the dealers, the owner comes to harass us. They would trace us to their lands and then cut the portion holding the pit we dug, collapsing the place on top of us. This leads to a lot of injuries. On such days, we have to vacate the place until the matter is resolved between both parties,” he said.
A life of hard labour
Dalhatu Yusuf, 30, was covered in mud and dead plants when our correspondent met him and his group at Igun. It has been a bad day for them having dug six hours into the earth with no sign of gold in sight. Their faces told of frustration and crushing disappointment.
“This is the third hole we have dug today,” Yusuf said, wiping off sweat from his face as he made for a sachet of water stashed inside a bag meters away. “We have not found even a pinch of gold since we started digging around 9:00am,” he continued. “This is how we toil without success on many days. That is how the work is but we have no choice because we have families to feed,” he said, squeezing a few more drops down his throat.
It has been seven months of hard labour for Yusuf on this vast gold field since he made the long journey from his native Kaduna to this part of Osun State where he hoped to trash poverty. A friend told him of the potentials buried in the grounds of Igun and adjoining communities. But what he has experienced over the period has been a distant contrast to his initial expectations. He is yet to make even N30, 000 since finding his way to Osun.
“I was told that it was much better in Osun and that in no time, I would become rich. But since I have been working here, I have not even made up to N30, 000. The little money that even comes in once in a while, most of it goes into buying drugs, especially pain killers. The job leaves all your body and bones in pains,” he said.
Maternity ward of Igun’s hospital
“We sell each gram of gold for N7, 000 at the black market for now because the price has dropped. Some people come from Ilesa, Ife, Ibadan, Kano, Cotonou and Ghana to buy from us. It all depends on the network of the person selling.
“But it is a very dangerous job. A lot of times we are bitten by scorpions, snakes and even attacked by leech. We only endure the pains and continue with the work, hoping that one day we could find enough gold that can bring us wealth,” he said.
Sloppy crackdown
Local Government officials refused to explain what they were doing to curb the activities of the likes of Ahmed and Yusuf in the region when our correspondent visited the secretariat at Osu town. The chairman, Disu Oyedele, was said to be out of town at the time. Subsequent efforts to get him to respond to allegations that the council was selling tickets to illegal miners operating in the area, thus strengthening their position, did not yield much. Even though our correspondent left his contact to be reached by the chairman when he returns from his trip, he is yet to do so several days after the visit.
But while authorities in Atakunmosa West Local Government appear helpless on the situation, the state government on March 14, 2013, arrested three persons for illegal gold mining in the area. The Coordinator, Office of Mineral and Natural Resources, Office of the Governor, Mr. Tunde Ajilore, led a combined team of security operatives to carry out the raid.
“These illegal miners have done lots of damage on the mining titles that belong to the state without taking permission or paying anything. On these titles, the state government pays royalty of over N50 million to the Federal Government yearly and we will not fold our arms to allow the illegal miners to destroy our properties,” Ajilore said.
A serial monster
But despite those assurances, illegal mining of gold has continued unhindered across the local government, wrecking havoc across the environment and further impoverishing many households whose survival largely depends on agriculture.
Sadly, these Osun communities are not the only ones counting the cost of illegal gold mining on their land – they are now among a growing list across Nigeria. In 2009, illegal gold mining activities led to the death of over 400 children and also left dozens others on treatment table following exposure to lead caused by environmental damage. According to Doctors Without Borders, a vonlunteer group of medical practitioners, the scale of the problem in Zamfara is unprecedented.
Many of the children had blood lead levels hundred times higher than usual. More than 2,000 were treated with chelation therapy, while scores more are yet to make full recovery since that time.
Though, accurate data on gold production in Nigeria is stash, reports say at least 1.4 tonnes were produced in Nigeria between 1933-1943 before the Nigerian Mining Corporation started full-fledge exploration in the early 1980s.
In 2013, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development at the time, Mr. Linus Awute, said that Nigeria lost around $50bn to neighbouring countries as a result of illegal mining and exportation of unprocessed gold in the two years preceding that period. He described the loss as monumental.
“What the country loses to illegal mining is tremendous; the amount of gold that left this country through such means was more than $50bn in the last two years. The amount of unprocessed gold that has left this country through the neighbouring countries, Ghana in particular, is enormous,” he said.
A ticking time bomb
United Nations Habitat Programme Manager for Nigeria, Mallam Kabir Yari, told Saturday PUNCH that uncontrolled mining activities in places like Owu-Epe, Igun and other communities under Atakunmosa West Local Government Area apart from resulting in severe environmental degradation, is capable of robbing entire communities of means of livelihood.
“Look at the case of Zamfara State, we all saw what happened there as a result of illegal gold mining. The people there are still battling with the problem caused by the damage to the environment.
“So, wherever activities like this are taking place, the land will become useless. It means that farmers can no longer grow crops, thereby depriving them of their means of livelihood. It can also lead to erosion and even bigger environmental problems.
“The best way to fight this problem is for the government to embark on enlightenment and environmental education of the people who live in such communities who most times give out their land for such purposes for a token. If these people understand the dangers for them and the environment, they would resist unauthorised mining in their communities,” he said.
Geologist, Funsho Olarinre, told Saturday PUNCH that indiscriminate digging of the environment without proper survey could lead to more than just contamination of water but other mineral resources not initially detected in such places. It could lead to flooding too, he said.
A sociologist, David Onyekwere opined that the plight of Igun and Owu-Epe’s residents is not far from the Nigerian situation. He fingered poor administration of resources by government at all levels as the biggest cause of the problem.
“The situation of the people you are talking about is not different from what Nigeria is passing through as a nation. It is a society blessed with so much resources but living in lack because of poor management. Except there is the will to do things right by the government and its many agencies, many communities blessed with resources might not be living in wealth but in abject poverty,” he said.
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