The Kogi State Government Wednesday inspected activities on its coalfields in Ankpa Local Government Area and charged miners to carry out their corporate social responsibilities to the host communities.
The government’s team which was at the Dangote Mining Project sites in Unupi and Awo villages in Ankpa, urged the Nigerian Multinational Company to build the communities’ roads, and cautioned them against acts that could lead to environmental degradation.
The Chief of Staff to the Governor of Kogi State, Hon. Edward Onoja who led the government’s delegation to the coalfields told newsmen at the two mining sites visited that they were there as a high-powered committee set up by the Kogi State Government to carry out on the spot assessment of mining activities in the State and report back to it within two weeks.
“This committee on mining which I’m the chairman is set up because the government wants to have optimal benefits for its people from mining and to also ensure that those operating within the boundary of the State have adequate security to operate peacefully. Whatever it would take them to carry out their mining activities, the government would mediate and provide,” he said.
Onoja added that though mining in the country is exclusively regulated by the federal government, the Kogi State Government would ensure that the communities within its boundary where the black mineral is extracted are not over exploited.
“When we looked at the sites we would want to ask questions to know the local participation in terms of human capitals and the rest of them. We want to know the safety measures being put in place, the reclamation plans and the corporate social responsibilities plans that all the mining companies in the fields have for the communities.
“We do know that mining is a federal government matter, but it happens in communities that are within the jurisdiction of the State, and it is the responsibility of any responsible government that those communities, their people, resources and environment are not utterly short-changed for profits. So that at the end of the day it would be a win-win situation for all the stakeholders, and we will know what our rights, obligations and benefits are, and carry them out,” he explained.
He reiterated the government’s commitment to ensure that mining activities in the State are harmonised in order to avert illegal mining and loss of revenue.
“Our activities are basically to look at the mining sites and do a report back to the Governor on what the status is and where there are gaps to be covered either by the government or the miners. We need to bring them out. The key to the success of this committee’s work is openness and release of information as it is expected. A lot of things would come to play that we would want to know,” the Chief of Staff said.
He called on the company to lay more emphasis on communities and human development by providing infrastructures and empowering their youths through education and skills acquisitions that are required for their employments on the mining sites and other lucrative places.
Responding, the General Manager of the Dangote Group’s Mining Project, Mr Malika Joe assured the government of his company’s commitment to develop the communities where the coal is extracted.
“The communities whose lands are taken for mining are adequately compensated. We have paid for all the economic trees that were on the mining lands. We also pay surface rent annually to the communities. And when we are through with mining in any of the sites, we will reclaim the land as it were and return it to the land owners,” he said.
Mr Joe added that an average of five-scholarship-position is given to each of the five communities that are contiguous to the Dangote Mining Project sites every year as part of the company’s corporate social responsibilities.
He narrated before the youths and the government’s team at the Unupi site that the communities’ roads were being rehabilitated and boreholes were being sunk for them by the company.
The Kogi State Commissioner for Environment, Alhaji Sanusi Usman Yahaya who expressed satisfaction with the quality of technology that was used in the mining sites, however urged the miners to do more in its corporate social responsibilities.
“We want them to carry out the agreement they had with the communities by ensuring that the environment is not polluted, by providing them infrastructures and by ensuring that their youths are adequately employed.
Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the Kogi State Governor on Solid Minerals. Hon. Charles Ile Umoru averred that the committee’s recommendation would appeal to the State government to go into full mining activities.
“With what we have seen here today, it is obvious that mining is one of the major areas where we have absolute advantage. We must diversify in that respect for the growth of the State,” he emphasized.
Photo Credit: Inside Story
