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Senate Mandates Committee on Solid Minerals to Handle Bill on Gold Reserves Framework, Investigate Bloody Mining Site Collapse in Niger

…Committee Chairman Senator Ekong Sampson says Senate will strengthen legislation against mining abuses

By Samuel Udoma

ABUJA – Against the backdrop of rising casualties and abuses in Nigeria’s Mining sector, the Senate has mandated its Committee on Solid Minerals Development to handle a critical legislative framework on Gold reserves in the country. The Upper Chamber also, at Plenary yesterday, mandated the Committee to investigate the recent bloody collapse of a mining site in Niger State.

The Committee’s mandates followed deliberations and resolution by the Senate on the bill for ‘An Act to Make Provision for Nigeria Gold Reserves Industry Framework and for related maters’, sponsored by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, which passed Second Reading, on Wednesday.

It also followed a motion titled ‘Urgent need to address the incident of the Rock slide that buried alive over 30 informal miners in a Gold mining site in Farin Doki Community, Shiroro Local Government, Niger State’, sponsored by Senator Musa, Mohammed Sani.

Senator Sani, representing Niger East, in his motion, had noted the catastrophic rock slide which occured at the open-pit gold mine, which led to at least 30 local/informal miners buried alive in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.

He stated that the unfortunate miners ‘in their quest for gold and lithium minerals, met their untimely deaths, as the avalanche caved in, burying them under tons of rubble’.

Senator Musa surmised that the tragic incident underscored the urgent need for comprehensive and holistic action to be taken in order to frontally address the dangers faced and posed by local mining activities taking place across the country.

While Uduaghan’s Bill was subsequently referred to the Senate Committees on Solid Minerals, Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, the Senate mandated the Committee on Solid Minerals to visit Shiroro and conduct an on the spot assessment, in order to ascertain the remote and immediate causes of the landslide.

Speaking after plenary yesterday, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, Senator Ekong Sampson expressed concern over tragic incident in Niger State and pledged that the Senate will strengthen legislation against mining abuses in the country.

Senator Sampson said that Nigeria was being shortchanged and was losing a lot of revenue through the unwholesome activities of some operators, including expatriates in the sector.

Recall that the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, about a fortnight ago, held Investigative Hearing on the minerals sector of the country. Senator Sampson said the Committee will conduct an on the spot assessment visit to some mining sites in the country, further to its investigative mandate.