Inside Kano community where illegal miners cash-in on residents’ pains

… as environmental degradation causes unhealthy living

Tunde Omolehin who was in Kaura-Mata, Kano

One Monday morning, a 76-year-old, Mallam Yahaya Ado, a community head of Kaura-mata, stood at the eroded bank of Challawa river with his subjects, gesturing as he spoke about many environmental degradation facing his community.

Kaura-mata is one of the riverine communities located in Madobi local government area of Kano state, northwest Nigeria. Its residents have continued to suffer in the hands of illegal miners.ata Map.png here]

“Our farmlands have been taken over by these illegal sand miners because their illicit activities have continued to expand gully erosion and affect our source of drinking,” Ado said

“During the rainfall, the flood will push more sand to them to evacuate and this continues till dry season when most of the sand must have been dug and caused erosion.”

The problem of the community started sometime in 2011, when some young men discovered the river was enriched with ‘river sand’. The sand is usually found near river banks and streams and used in the construction of buildings.

Ado recounts that until now, the section of Challawa River that passes through his community was just narrow in nature. “This river that they (illegal miners) now encroached was narrow in nature but you can see that it has been expanded and caused many erosion channels, ” Ado said.

“Before, we used this river shore to cultivate our vegetation crops for both wet and dry seasons. We have enough food to feed our family and also sell for personal income generation.

“But these sand miners have destroyed the wetlands since they discovered our community as a suitable area to encroach sand and this is affecting our farming,” said Habib Suleiman, a farmer who has since abandoned farming to take a security guard job.

MINING FOR CASH

At the river bank, several able young men were seen with each of them armed with shovels while sailing their wooden canoe toward the river bank. It appears to be a keen competitive work whose only fit takes it all.

Every day, young men, armed with shovels, go out on the river and return with their canoes filled with sand. The dredging is tedious but that does not diminish the competition among the young men.

Iliyasu Usman, a 25-yrs-old sand dredger told TheWill that he earns a “fortune” daily from dredging sand.

“On a good day, I made between N2, 500 to N3, 000 from digging sand from the river to the destination shore where trucks on-load it to the final destination,”

Usman says. “At times, it could be a joint effort with some friends and that could earn us bigger money. It is a lucrative menial job someone introduced me to a few years ago.

“We have more than hundred people mining in this location. And each day, we make such money depending on how fast it can be to sail your canoe deep in the middle of the river.”

When asked if the quest to make money is not impacting on the livelihood of the host community. “This water belongs to God, it is a natural gift. We have no explanation. We are only looking for our daily bread,” he says.

Iliyasu and his cohorts are unaware of many impacts from indiscriminate mining causing the poor community like Kaura-Mata.

Many Nigerian States, including Kano, are hard hit by illegal mining menace. An estimated 80% of mining in the state is conducted illegally on an artisanal basis, involving youths who depend on it for survival.

“These wetlands are a source of water and vegetation production for many rural people in Kano state. Some also use such rivers for fishery, says Dauda Aliyu, a commercial driver that conveyed this reporter around the localities.

Dauda believes that illegal miners are everywhere in the rural areas committing all forms of environmental crimes while officials are in their luxurious offices without taking proactive measures to curtail their illegal acts.

FEELING THE PAINS

In 2018, Kano among twelve states revamped with an outbreak of cholera, an acute watery diarrhea caused as a result of water contamination. The state recorded no fewer than twenty-eight out of 400 confirmed victims according to a report.

Hajara Ali, a physically challenged person in her early 20s was one of the survivors of the outbreak.

Hajara said she fell unconscious one day while helping her mother with the house essential at sunset. “It came suddenly when I started running temperature and vomiting at the same time. I thought it was just a feverish condition which could be handled with a levity approach,” she says.

At first, she began taking medicines prepared by traditional healers. But when the condition worsened, someone suggested she visit the only healthcare facility in the community for proper medical treatment.

An auxiliary nurse, Muhammad Aliyu who attended to Hajara at the Primary Health Center at Kaura-Mata village confirmed she has been afflicted with cholesterol going by the symptoms she had exhibited but was later treated and discharged.

“I was told the illness was as a result of contaminated substance intake; either food or water I took. They said it might be the stream water that we drink from.” Hajara had suspects.

Aliyu also informed TheWill that frequent cases of cholera, hepatitis, and typhoid are high among out-patients who visit the health center.

Musa Ado, the community’s youth leader, said Hajara’s experience was one of the many health challenges facing residents of the community. “This is what is left for us to drink. They have contaminated our source of water in the community. We have suffered a lot. Our children and women are now vulnerable to all kinds of water borne diseases,” says 30-years-old Musa while taking TheWill round a pond he claimed was left for residents to use for drinking purposes.

Ado further emphasized indiscriminate encroaching of the river by sand dredgers is affecting the people livelihood, income growth and health wellbeing.

“We are really suffering in this community. Our drinking water has been contaminated and we are not happy that we are at the receiving end. Government should do something,” he said

“We have made frantic efforts in informing the local government authority but nobody listens to us. We have left everything to God for divine intervention.

“Since you are here for the purpose of helping us in the community, we want you to tell the government concerned to as a matter of urgency put a stop to the activity of these miners.

“We also want the government to care for our welfare priorities by assisting both our farmers and youths with livelihoods. We have been neglected for so long.” Musa further laments.”

GOVT MUTES ABOUT RESIDENTS’ PLIGHTS

Rabiu Ibrahim Kaura-Mata, a resident, says the Kano State Government is not unaware of the illegal mining going on within the community.

The 60-yrs-old farmer insists that their ordeals in the hands of illegal dredgers started during the second tenure of former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in 2011. “They can’t stop those illegal miners because of the reason best known to them,” Kaura-Mata says

“We have been experiencing this for so long. As true Muslim, we have left everything to the hands of God. That is what we can say.”

Ibrahim Umar, the head of Geremi village, a sub-domain within the Kaura-Mata community, also accused government officials of illegally mining the area. “We have tried our best to put a stop to this menace but were in vain. You have seen what we are passing through as citizens of this country?

“The present government is aware of our plights but may be those that needed to take action have been compromised. Even, Kano State Water Board is aware that the mining is contaminating both the water tap and boreholes in this community. They want us to die but everyone will all taste death at an appointed time,” he says.

An unnamed official at the Kano State Environmental Planning and Protection Agency (KASEPPA) office, an agency responsible for issues of environment, said its mandate only includes planning urban centers and control of development in urban centers. He directed TheWill to redirect any official enquiries to the state Ministry of Environment

But, several efforts made by TheWill to get official comment from the Ministry were unsuccessful, as calls and messages put through the verified phone number of the state Commissioner in-charge of the ministry, Dr. Kabiru Getso, were not replied.

When contacted for comment, the Executive Chairman, Madobi Local Government council, Muhammad Lawan Yahaya said issue of mining is an exclusive responsibility of both the state and federal governments.

“We at council level have no say on the issue of mining; whether it is legal or illegal. Go to the state ministry of environment or federal mining to ask your questions please,” he tells TheWill during a phone chat.

When reminded that the recent amended mining law in Nigeria has empowered both the local community and the state government incentives to abide by and enforce the rule of law in the sector.

But he merely responded: “I don’t know what you are talking about. Besides, I have no answer to this. Go to the authority concerned and get your answers. What I know is that we don’t intervene in any mining issues within the community.”

MINING AGAINST THE LAW

In 2007, the Nigerian government unveiled plans to revise its crucial mining law, the Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act (NMMA).

It was in response to the nation’s underdeveloped mining sector where it currently generates just 0.3% of GDP and leaves the country scrambling to import minerals which could be produced domestically.

In 2018, the law was passed under the amendment that power and revenues will be shifted from the regulating body, the Nigerian Mining Cadastre Office (MCO), an arm of the federal government, to the local level.

It also avails both the local and state government some incentives to abide by and enforce the rule of law in the sector.

According to Section 44 (3) of the mining law as amended, any operator without a license is, therefore, considered to engage in criminal activities and may be arrested and tried in a court while chapter (4) dwells on the environmental considerations and rights of the host communities.

Uchechukwu Ogah, Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, said anybody in such illegitimate activities risks being jailed for a minimum of two years without any option of fine.

Aminu Sada, an environmental analyst, however, attributed the environmental deterioration caused by unlawful sand dredgers to lack of enforcement of the existing laws in the country.

He noted that inefficient development control in the environmental sector is impacting negatively on other human endeavours. “It is a fact that governments at all levels must put mechanisms in place to reverse this ugly trend.

“The case of Kaura-Mata is just one of the many communities troubled by these miners. If you go to southern states, it is also the same lamentation from these innocent citizens that ought to be protected by the authorities concerned.” Mr. Aliyu submits during a phone interview.

WHY RURAL COMMUNITIES FACED THE BRUNT

Hassan Ibrahim, Executive Director, Friends of the Community Organization, a nonprofit outfit in the state, notes that over the years, rural communities have continued to suffer the brunt of environmental impacts caused by unscrupulous actors who exploit their natural resources to their detriments.

“So, these criminals are always taking advantage of their ignorance to exploit their environment thereby causing degradation and other ecological problems.

Hassan confirmed that Madobi Dawaki Tofa and Gezawa were top prevalence local government areas prone to environmental degradation in the state.

“We have researched and discovered that illegal mining activities are prevalent in Madobi, Dawaki Tofa and Gezawa. We know the negative effects this mining is causing to our communities; is it to talk about the health or economic effects on the vulnerable people?

“We must rise to the task and help to defend these communities through empowering them with necessary information that could build their capacity, ” he emphasizes.

Hassan, who focuses on issues of water sanitation hygiene and environmental impact against communities, says his team will soon build on citizens’ capacity of the affected communities.

“We need to focus on how these communities can take ownership of their environment and not allow these criminals to take advantage of them in the name of mining for selfish gains,” he says

“We are setting up committees across these affected communities who are facing environmental degradation. Those in this committee will comprise their tradition and religious leaders, youths and women.

“We want to engage them on how to get feedback on issues going within their domains. We will also take their plights to the appropriate authority for accountability. As for the plight of the Kaura-Mata community, we are going to support them in presenting their concerns before the ministry of environment”

This story was supported by the Africa Data Hub Community Journalism Fellowship

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