Concerns Over Child Miners Of Plateau

A new trend is emerging in Jos and its environs as far as mining activities is concerned as school children abandon their studies for illegal mining business which is thriving, ACHOR ABIMAJE, reports.

I am here because I work in the site everyday so that I can make little money to take to my parents. They use the money to provide food and do other necessary things for us.” These were the words of 10-year-old Daniel Pam (not real name).

“People call our business illegal and sometime security operatives chase us but we believe it is better than stealing or engaging in other vices. We are exploring the blessing of God on our land to our own benefit,” he said while looking unperturbed.

Many children, like Pam who ordinarily should be in the class room listening to their teachers impart knowledge to them, are unfortunately on the mining field, in many of the mining sites scattered in different locations in Jos and its environs, including some far away council areas where mining activities take place.

Plateau State is reputed for mining with Jos its capital, widely referred to as the tin city state owing the abundance of tin and years of tin mining activities in the area.

But over a century after mining commenced in parts of the state, school children and in some instances, children of school age now abandoned school for illegal mining activities in Plateau State.

It is observed that this singular act is responsible for an unusually large number of students/pupil drop out to pursue illegal mining business in various location in the state.

In places like Bassa, Jos South, Riyom and BarkinLadi local government council of the state where illegal mining activities are being carried out, scores of children are seen engaged in carrying the excavated minerals from one location to another for a token.

In most of the sites visited, there are close to a thousand youths; this is aside married women who are engaged in illegal mining activities. Other businesses also thrive around the mining sites such as selling of local beer known as “burukutu,” and commercial sex work.

Beyond the fact that there are so many youths engaged in the illegal activities, the key concern of stakeholders hinge on the fact that children who ordinarily should have been in schools swarm in and around the illegal mining sites.

As against this background, stakeholders in education sector in Barkin-Ladi and Bassa local government area recently appealed to relevant government authorities to look into this ugly trend which they noted, was putting the education of the children and by implication, the future of the state in jeopardy.

“This development has led to increase in school drop out in the area,” a seasoned educationist and retired principal, Solomon Titus noted.

The stakeholders made the call when the commissioner for Secondary Education in the state Hon. Joseph Mairiga visited Government College Foron in Barkin-Ladi LGA

Speaking to our correspondent, the area director of Education in Barkin-Ladi, Longbam Elizabeth who acknowledged the increase in students enrolment in public school as a result of the relative peace that has returned to the area, lamented that tin mining activities in the locality was distracting students from attending schools.

Speaking in a similar manner, a community leader, Timothy David from Bassa local government area also called for intervention on the illegal mining activities in the area along Mista Ali.

But while the community leader was silent on what many described as side effect of the mining bug that has bitten Plateau State children, the principal of Government Secondary School Mista Ali, a village along Jos-Zaria road, Mrs. JijidaJamo specifically noted that the ongoing illegal mining activities in the area was threatening the education of the children of the area.

“It is distracting the activities of the institution as most students would rather visit the site to work and make little money than attend school,” she said and called for urgent intervention.

Security Clamp Down On Illegal Miners

Indications have emerged that security personnel are not resting on their oars in stemming the dangerous tide if for no other thing, but to save the future of the children who are increasingly being lured into abandoning their education for the illegal business.

Only recently, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDS) in the state arrested four persons for carrying out illegal mining activities around the Lamingo Dam, in Jos North local government area of the state.

The state’s NSCDC public relations officer Naomi Cishak told journalist that the corps also arrested three other illegal miners around Mista Ali Bassa local government area of the state recently, bringing the number of those arrested to seven, a figure many describe insignificant considering the large number of persons allegedly engaged in the act, but a step in the right direction.

Chishak warned residents to desist from mining around the Lamingo Dam which provides water for domestic and industrial use insisting that it was detrimental to the health of all residents of Jos City. She assured that that the NSCDC will intensify efforts at arresting such illegal miners. Our correspondent reports that other security agencies like the police are also not resting in their oars in combating the menace.

A Peep Into History Of Mining On The Plateau

One of the things that earned fame for Plateau State is mining activities which was done by the Europeans before the discovery of oil in Nigeria. Indeed, before the oil boom, mining was one of the major sources of revenue generation in the country.

By 1913, there were 108 mining companies registered by the Royal Niger Company and in 1943, tin mining on the Plateau was at its peak as there were about 80,000 African workers.

Until 1960, Jos was the sixth largest producer of tin in the world while it was gathered that 225-kilometre land space was claimed by tin mining. In the 1970s, Nigeria produced an average of 10,000 tons of tin-ore annually.

Experts estimated that miners on the Plateau dig up six million tons of soil every year. Sitting on the mineral-rich Plateau, Jos and its surrounding areas became prosperous and famous as a result of tin mining activities.

It is gathered that mining activities on the Plateau was the single most important factor responsible for the wealth of some indigenous business men during the 1960s when the business boom.

Residents Seek End To Illegal Mining

Obviously disturbed by the emerging trend and its implication for the state, some residents who spoke to our correspondent enjoined government and relevant stakeholders to synergize and ensure a lasting solution to the menace is achieved.

Among the respondents who spoke to our correspondent was Dachan Dennis. He said the time was ripe for all hands to be on deck in combating the menace of illegal mining in general and specifically, the idea of luring children to be used as child labour in most of the illegal sites.

“This is a sad development and indeed, it’s an infraction on the rights of children, that is even if we don’t condemn the business for the simple fact that it is illegally done, we must condemn it for attracting children.”

One thing which appears central in the views expressed by all the respondents is the need for government to step-up its surveillance role and ensure that all those engaged are arrested and made to face full wrath of the law.

“We are not opposed to people prospecting for minerals after all it is a source of revenue for us as a people but we frown at it being done illegally and more so that people use it to lure children to the sites for cheap labour,” DomicToklong said.

Source: Leadership