CHANNELS
A walk through an untarred path towards Ede Road, beside Cooperative Hostel (students hostel) before Damico, revealed another side of life where illegal miners selfishly feast and thrive on Nigeria’s commonwealth inside the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).
Except on a closer look, one could easily be deceived to assume a road construction work was ongoing in the area.
But as we moved to record activities on the land, our reporter was able to capture the face of one of the miners who sat crossed-legged on a bamboo seat by the roadside.
As the miner sat, engrossed in conversation with a mystery person over the phone, we spotted a sandy path right beside him leading into the mining site.
Some thick tipper lines were seen drawn deep into the sandy soil, and right behind the trees were piles of sand that could be seen from the tarred road.
Even though we could not move into the sight on the first visit for fear of being harassed, we later captured another miner trying to cut down some tree branches to cover up the path leading to the site as soon as he suspected he was being watched..
One of the primary concerns associated with illegal mining is its devastating impact on the environment. Unregulated mining operations often involve the use of harmful chemicals such as mercury and cyanide, which are used to extract minerals like gold and lead. These chemicals can leach into nearby water sources, contaminating rivers and groundwater, and posing serious health risks to both humans and wildlife (students and staff in this case). The indiscriminate use of heavy machinery and explosives further exacerbates environmental degradation, causing deforestation, soil erosion, and habitat destruction.
The Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, of 2007 already introduced a practice of mandatory Community Development Agreement between mining sector operators and a certain segment of the society referred to as the “host community”. In this case, OAU is the host community, and, according to the mandate in Section 116 subsection 1 and 2 of the Mining Act, there is meant to be a stakeholders’ engagement.
On a later visit, Channels Television was able to capture one of the miners, digging deep into the ground with a brown-looking iron pan carefully placed at the bank of the plundered site. His mining net was also perfectly fitted deeply into the soil.
Surprisingly, Channels Television soon learnt that there were other mining sites right inside the campus of the university.
According to investigation, another site is located at Road 7 which plays host to a couple of buildings, including the junior staff quarters of the university. Another invasion we learnt, takes place at the University Teaching and Research farm.
A source close to the matter told our reporter that precious stones were also being mined inside the river along the teaching hospital complex.
“But I cannot ascertain what they are mining at other locations,” one of our sources who begged not to be named told our reporter.
“Road seven is not the only mining site here. There are many others too. An invasion is also happening at the university teaching and research farm. The mining site there is so deep,” the source added.
