BY AGNES NWORIE , ABAKALIKI
Five persons have been arrested in Ebonyi State for ilegally mining in a primary school premises and market in Amajim, Amaeka, Ezza South Local Government Area of the state.
The State Commissioner for Environment, Richard Nnabo disclosed this to journalists during the closing of mining pits in the school premises and a market in the community.
Recall that the state is dotted with indiscriminate and abandoned mining pits, which came to light with an auto crash that led to the death of the immediate past APC Youth leader, Ogochukwu Elem and his two police orderlies recently, hence the state governor ordered closure of all such mining pits.
The Commissioner noted that the suspects had been indulging in the illegal activities, which exposed school children and people of the area to danger since 2017.
He said, “What is happening here is environmental degradation and it is in my jurisdiction to address everything that concerns the environment.
“What you are seeing here is illegal mining activity that is taking place inside a primary school and this happens to be the primary school I attended.
“Some persons in the village decided to do illegal mining because they felt they could get solid minerals. There is procedure for mining. You must get license before you go into mining.
“Of course, you cannot mine in school because children are in the school and anybody that is mining in a primary school like this is exposing the school children and villagers to dangers of ill health.
“As you can see, the next pit you are seeing there is in the market. As they are mining, every person who attends market there and the school children are also exposed to dangers of ill health.
“Because these people are doing illegal mining, they don’t know what is called protective devices they should use to protect themselves and even if they use protective device, these pits are open and these school children are liable to fall into these open pits.”
