BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
Residents of some communities endowed with mineral resources in Ebonyi State have lamented negative effects of mining, saying they have been exposed to environmental hazards among other dangers.
They said miners had been operating contrary to rules and decried several abandoned mines and destruction of lands, which predispose indigenes to hazards of severe proportions. According to them, miners fail to reclaim their lands after excavation of mineral deposits therein. Ebonyi State is blessed with large deposits of mineral resources like limestone, lead, granite, salt, among others.
When The Point’s correspondent visited some communities endowed with mineral deposits in the state, abandoned mining pits dotted the communities. Some of these communities include Umuhuali in Ishielu Local Government Area, Nkaleke Echara Nduebor community in Ebonyi Local Government Area, and Ikwo, Ezza South LGAs, among others.
The communities lamented that the natural endowments on their lands, which were supposed to be blessings to them, had been turned to sources of disaster and hazards by mining companies that failed to reclaim the excavated sites with sand after mining.
The people of Umuhuali, the host community of the South East moribund cement factory known as Nigercem Cement, Nkalagu, called on miners to operate in accordance with laid down mining rules in Nigeria for the good of all and sundry.
At Echara community in Ezza South Local Government Area, the town Union President, Ugama Chinedu, noted that the community had not benefited from the precious limestone on their land, while accusing some politicians of selfishly enjoying the royalties.
“Negligence on the side of the mining companies has caused us more harm than good. The government should compel them to always sand-fill the pits when they are done with their activities in order to prevent cases of landslides, which always bury our people. There have been cases of earthquake caused by dynamites used in blasting the rocks, which causes cracks or total collapse of our buildings, insufficient farmlands due to indiscriminate excavation sites, existence of contaminated water, which now serves as abode for dangerous reptiles like crocodile.
“The mining companies should also care about the welfare of the labourers by providing nose masks and other safety equipments for them to reduce the effects of the work hazards,” he said.
At Umuhuali community in Ishielu Local Government Area of the state, the Regent of the community, Prince Benjamin Onwa, also decried the illegal activities of miners and
called on the state government to intervene and ensure that their operations followed due standards.
It was gathered that some residents had been rendered homeless, owing to negative effects of mining activities. One of them is a blind man, Stephen Ovuoba, whose house was reportedly damaged by the mining activities of Iji International Investment Limited in collaboration with China Zhonghao (Nigeria) Limited.
Narrating his ordeal, the blind father of five children who now begs to survive, disclosed that his house,situated at Okworeka village, Nkaleke Echara Nduebor Community in Ebonyi council, was damaged by the company’s stone blasts and other mining works. According to him, for the past three years, he has not received any compensation from either the Chinese officials or Chief Godwin Obeji, the Chairman of Iji International Investment Limited. Ovuoba alleged that he had visited the quarry site known as Mkpumauzu, on several occasions to tell the workers about his plight, but, perhaps, because of his visual impairment, he had not been given attention by either the white men or Chief Obeji. He then called on the state government, through the Ministry of Solid Mineral, to intervene.
“Before the people started the mining work in 2017, the officials promised that they would rebuild all the houses being damaged by their activities and also give the victims
compensation of cash, but after destroying my entire compound with their blasts, they refused to listen to me; maybe with the hope that I would not do anything since I am blind,” he lamented.
Ovuoba also said that he had lived in the damaged compound for 17 years before the establishment of the mining company, alleging that the unconcerned attitude of the workers was satanic and cruel.
“Each time the people want to blast stones, they will signal us by blowing whistles and immediately, all the people living within the axis will run for their lives and after about three hours, we will return and this is how we have been living in fear until the particular day that the impact of the same blast fell my house.
“Presently, my wife, five children and myself, alongside other neighbours, are homeless, whereas the company has not stopped their operations,” he added. The Coordinator, National Association of the Blind, Ebonyi North Senatorial Zone, John Onyibe, appealed to the government to mediate in order for Ovuoba to get compensation and live more comfortably. Other families whose houses were reportedly destroyed, owing to the effects of mining in Nkaleke Echara Nduebor community in Ebonyi Local Government Area of the state include Thomas Nwodom, Ogbonna Okenu, Jeremiah Obaulo, Uche Nwankwo, Mrs. Fidelia Nwokporo, and Mrs. Felicia Nwokoro, among others.
Efforts to get the reaction of the companies and the middleman, Chief Obeji, were not successful as he declined comments.
The Commissioner for Solid Minerals, Chris Uchaji, said his office had yet to receive such complaints from the people of Okworeka, just as the Ministry of Environment could not comment on the issue.
