W’African Mining Communities Demand Consent, Accountability In Resource Extraction

Communities affected by mining activities crossed West Africa person called for their consent to beryllium sought earlier minerals are exploited successful their regions.

Traditional rulers, assemblage leaders, and rights advocates made this request astatine the opening of the 5th West African Mining Host Communities Indaba, which the rights and accountability radical Global Rights organised.

They called for transparency and accountability successful the region’s extractive industries, informing that the surge successful planetary request for West Africa’s lithium, cobalt, bauxite, and different alleged “green minerals” indispensable not travel astatine the disbursal of repeating past injustices.

In her opening address, Abiodun Baiyewu, Executive Director of Global Rights, recalled the tragic deaths of children from pb poisoning successful Zamfara State’s mining communities. “Zamfara’s children were the outgo of golden mining,” she said. “We watched them dice portion politicians bickered.”

She highlighted ongoing crises successful Kogi, Gombe, Ebonyi, Osun, and different regions, wherever communities carnivore the brunt of biology degradation and displacement, adjacent arsenic mineral wealthiness fills the coffers of corporations and governmental elites.

“The names of the communities whitethorn differ, but the challenges stay the same,” Baiyewu stated, pointing to decades of poisoned rivers, mislaid livelihoods, and devastated ecosystems crossed Nigeria and neighbouring countries.

This year’s Indaba, with the taxable “The Intersection of Green Mining and the Right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC),” places assemblage bureau astatine the bosom of the cleanable vigor debate. Participants crossed West Africa called big communities to beryllium recognised not arsenic passive recipients of mining’s fallout but arsenic adjacent stakeholders successful assets extraction and payment organisation decisions.

“The committedness of a greener satellite indispensable not travel astatine the disbursal of the radical whose practice is being traded nether the guise of a conscionable vigor transition,” Baiyewu warned. Without FPIC, she cautioned, the planetary displacement to renewables risks becoming different section successful a agelong past of exploitation.

As satellite leaders gathered successful New York for the UN General Assembly to sermon peace, development, and quality rights, Baiyewu lamented the lack of the astir affected communities from the planetary speech connected the aboriginal of mining and energy.

LEADERSHIP reports that the conference, present successful its 5th year, has go a determination level wherever grassroots leaders, policymakers, and civilian nine converge to acceptable their ain docket for assets governance. Over the coming days, delegates volition deliberate connected however to align the planetary vigor modulation with justice, quality rights, and biology sustainability.

Baiyewu urged participants: “Let this gathering not lone beryllium a forum for dialog but a catalyst for corporate enactment — wherever communities basal astatine the centre, their consent honoured, their rights protected, and their futures safeguarded.”

In a keynote address, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, Executive Secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), stressed the urgent request to alteration Nigeria’s coagulated minerals sector. Despite Nigeria’s immense mineral wealth—44 chiseled mineral types crossed implicit 500 locations—the manufacture contributes little than 1% to the nation’s GDP, highlighting important underperformance. The 2023 coagulated minerals gross was astir N401.9 billion, accounting for lone 0.83% of the GDP.

“For decades, we person lamented… Today, the clip for lamentation is over,” Dr Orji declared, calling for decisive enactment to curb mislaid revenues, smuggling, amerciable mining, biology degradation, and neglect of big communities.

With the planetary system shifting rapidly towards greenish energy, minerals specified arsenic lithium, cobalt, nickel, and uncommon world elements are present “more invaluable than oil,” placing Nigeria astatine a important crossroads. Dr Orji warned that if Nigeria does not enactment boldly and swiftly, “we volition again ticker others crook their resources into nationalist wealthiness portion ours stay trapped beneath the soil.”

He emphasised aligning Nigeria’s mining assemblage with planetary greenish mining trends and embedding FPIC to marque big communities “equal partners, not afterthoughts.”

Dr Orji further argued that Nigeria’s mining laws are outdated and indispensable beryllium rewritten to bespeak 21st-century realities—empowering communities, protecting the environment, enforcing transparency, and attracting investment. He recommended passing a caller Solid Minerals Reform Act wrong 12 months and enacting the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act (Amended) Bill, 2023.

He called for establishing a National Minerals Development Council, “chaired astatine the hi...