By Oluwakemi Kindness
The Health of Mother Earth Foundation, HOMEF, has urged the government to address poverty, unemployment and livelihood insecurity alongside efforts to crack down on illegal mining.
HOMEF made the call on Tuesday following the reported deaths of 37 young miners in Niger State, demanding an independent and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths and accountability for any wrongdoing or negligence.
The victims, aged between 14 and 20, reportedly died while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, after raids on suspected illegal mining sites in the Wushishi-Lukoto area of the state.
HOMEF Executive Director, Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, said the incident should not be viewed solely as an illegal mining or security enforcement issue, but as part of a wider crisis linked to Nigeria’s extractive economy.
Bassey said poverty, livelihood insecurity and economic exclusion were among the factors pushing people into dangerous and informal mining.
He warned that stopping illegal mining should not simply mean replacing informal miners with industrial extraction that could further damage communities and ecosystems.
“We must stop treating extraction as the pathway to development while ignoring the lives, lands and ecosystems sacrificed in the process,” Bassey said.
He said Nigeria must avoid repeating the experience of the Niger Delta by replacing oil with minerals while leaving communities to bear pollution, livelihood losses and ecological destruction.
HOMEF called on the Federal and Niger State Governments to strengthen environmental monitoring and restoration, protect forests, farmlands and water bodies, and ensure communities participate meaningfully in decisions concerning mineral extraction.
The organisation also urged the government to invest in sustainable, non-extractive livelihoods that can reduce dependence on hazardous mining and strengthen local economies.
HOMEF maintained that tackling illegal mining requires confronting the socioeconomic conditions that drive people into the activity while protecting communities and ecosystems from destructive extraction.
