*Other Survivors Speak
*Gov Bago Gives Age Range Of Deceased
*Soldiers Patrol Minna, Police Teargas Protesters
*Details On Where Illegally Mined Resources Are Exported Amid Gang Violence
Survivors from a detention cell of the Niger State Command of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna, where 37 suspected illegal goldminers died yesterday, have opened up, recounting horror tales of their panic and struggle for breath.
The victims – many of whom were children – were found dead on Thursday in the cell.
The Command said it had raided suspected illegal gold mines and locked up dozens of suspected miners in Minna, the state capital.
Niger State, which is Nigeria’s largest, is rich in solid minerals and attracts thousands of artisanal miners, most lured by gold.
NSCDC initially blamed the deaths on a disease outbreak.
However, the Guardian UK, which today ran the report on the detention plight of survivors, quoted an intelligence report seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP) containing preliminary information suggesting that overcrowding and inadequate ventilation were responsible for the death of the suspects.
The State Governor, Umar Bago, said many of the dead were children, aged 14 to 18, who had been working in the mines instead of going to school.
“There are issues of illegal mining and it is taking a toll on our children,” he said.
A survivor from the cell, Dauda Shehu, told journalists at a hospital today: “We were jam-packed in the cell, no ventilation for us to breathe well. All of a sudden we realised that we could not breathe and we were all scampering for where to get fresh air, we even appealed to them several times, banged the cell door, but they refused to answer us.”
A video shared online showed the bodies of dozens of young men clad only in shorts, most of whom appeared to be teenagers, sprawled on the ground out in the open.
Volunteers wearing gloves can be seen standing over the dead, while veiled women try to identify the bodies of their relatives. Voices shouting curses on those responsible can be heard in the background.
AFP reported that another survivor, who asked not to be named, said he had made it out alive because he was near the cell’s entrance, where he could breathe better.
“We were screaming for help,” he said, with detainees telling the guards that “people are dying one after the other. They did not believe us.”
President Bola Tinubu has ordered an investigation into the deaths after his government earlier suspended the State Commandant, Suberu Siyaka Aniviye.
Interior Minister, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, ordered Aniviye’s immediate suspension, pending the outcome of an investigation.
But protests over the deaths broke out on Thursday evening in Minna.
Police Teargas Protesters
By today, dozens of young people, including miners and their relatives, gathered near the NSCDC’s office in the city. Police cordoned off the area and attempted to disperse the protesters by firing teargas.
A Reuters witness saw security forces fire live rounds as protesters – some armed with sticks, machetes and traditional hunting rifles – called for justice.
Some protesters tried to set fire to government buildings in the Tunga neighbourhood.
“We are not thieves – we are simply seeking a way to make a living by mining,” Yusuf Auwal, a miner who joined the protesters, told Reuters.
At least one body lay on the streets. Soldiers and police officers patrolled Minna to try to restore order.
As curfew began at 6pm local time on Friday, security forces appeared to have at least temporarily restored order to the streets of the city.
The NSCDC said the detainees had been held in raids on suspected illegal mines on 15-16 September in the Wushishi-Lukoto area west of Minna.
Police and the NSCDC did not initially provide a precise number of deaths but Gov. Bago later confirmed 37 people had died.
“It’s so sad, it’s so tragic,” he said, adding an inquiry into the deaths had already started work.
He declared three days of mourning and postponed the start of campaigning for elections due in January.
The dead were buried on Thursday, according to Islamic tradition.
Illegal Export Of The Minerals, Gang Violence And Control
The scramble for gold reserves dug up in illegal mines in Niger State is fuelling violence by criminal gangs, according to officials and experts, the Guardian UK reports.
The gangs tax the miners and demand a cut from the extracted ore as a levy to allow them access to the pits.
Most of the illegally mined gold is smuggled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where it is laundered into the global supply chain in Europe, the US, Asia and South Africa, according to a 2024 Swissaid report.
Apart from gold, Niger State sits on deposits of other minerals including tantalite, copper and lithium, which are in strong demand for use in electric vehicles and clean energy technology.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Family members converge on a public-owned hospital to try and confirm if their young ones are among the dead.
