ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Enugu State mining communities have expressed concern over ongoing environmental safety violations and health risks posed by coal miners in their regions.
The communities lamented the contamination of their sources of drinking water and livelihoods by mining activities.
They made this appeal on Tuesday through their traditional rulers and presidents-general, at a press conference held in Enugu.
The communities called on the Enugu State Government to intervene by ensuring that the mining consent obtained by companies engaged in mining conform to global best practices to save them from pollution and other health hazards.
They emphasized that they withdrew consent due to companies not meeting expectations, causing environmental damage to their land and vegetation.
They also accused mining companies of brazen disregard for the environmental safety of their people whose sources of water and farming have been polluted from the source.
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“Following a series of deliberations, we have unanimously agreed that we need to review the mining consent obtained by mining companies from our communities that have not lived up to expectations.
“Some of them were fraught with illegality. This is in addition with brazen disregard for the environmental safety of our people whose sources of water and farming have been polluted from the source“, they said.
Speaking on behalf of all the mining communities in the state, the traditional ruler of Nsude autonomous community in Udi local government, Igwe George Onoh, called on individuals and organizations interested in mining to reach out to the government through the Secretary of the State Government to verify that they have the consent of communities which complied with ethical, environmental and professional measures that guarantees the safety of their host communities.
“As a result of this, we would like to take this occasion to extend an invitation to all individuals/organizations interested in the mining sector to communicate with the State Government through the Secretary to the State Government as soon as possible in order to verify that they have received all necessary community consent to operate, follow the ethical, environmental and professional measures that guarantee the safety of their host communities, subject to the federal government cadastre certificates,” they said.
They further noted that the decision takes immediate effect.