Women in Mining Nigeria (WIMIN) has condemned the deaths of 37 artisanal miners who died while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State, demanding an independent investigation into the tragedy.
The organisation says the miners were held in a single, poorly ventilated cell that housed as many as 65 people. Survivors reportedly told WIMIN that extreme heat, dehydration, overcrowding and suffocation contributed to the deaths, and that they repeatedly banged on the doors for help as fellow detainees collapsed, but their pleas were ignored by on‑duty guards. Among the deceased were teenagers aged 14 to 18, a detail that WIMIN described as “particularly disturbing.”
“Criminalising poverty and utilising lethal containment strategies against artisanal miners is an arbitrary deprivation of life and an affront to international human rights standards,” WIMIN said, aligning its position with the National Human Rights Commission and the Socio‑Economic Rights and Accountability Project.
WIMIN also highlighted the broader socio‑economic backdrop of Niger State, where the National Bureau of Statistics reports a multidimensional poverty rate of 69.1 percent. World Bank data indicate that 72.8 percent of the state’s population lives below the extreme‑poverty line of $2.15 per day, and 92.9 percent live below $3.65 per day. The state’s rich deposits of gold, lithium and tantalite have drawn many residents to artisanal mining as a means of livelihood amid pervasive poverty and inadequate infrastructure.
“We cannot continue to use iron fists and lethal containment strategies against young citizens who are driven into mining pits by the sheer desperation for survival,” said Engr. Janet Adeyemi, Founder and National President of WIMIN. “Mining, for these teenagers and young men, is an escape from hunger and extreme hardship.”
WIMIN called for an independent, transparent judicial inquiry and the prosecution of anyone found responsible for the deaths. It urged the government to overhaul detention conditions, shift from criminalising artisanal mining to a human‑centred formalisation of the sector, strengthen child‑labour protections, provide educational alternatives for vulnerable teenagers, and compensate the families who lost their loved ones.
<small>Source: Vanguard News — read the original story there.</small>
