By Our Correspondent
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 the case of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, the school premises is a host community to over a dozen miners and, according to the mandate of host communities as stated in Section 116 subsection 1 and 2 of the Mining Act, there ought to be a stakeholder’s engagement between the management of the school and the miners before mining activities could take on the university land.
When the issue of illegal mining on OAU land became public knowledge, at least 11 mining companies claimed they were operating legally on the university land.
They also claimed that they were officially issued with certificate to carry out mining activities anywhere in the country by the Federal Government.
However, the University authority, through the Public Relation Officer, Abiodun Olanrewaju, released a press statement last weekend denying that OAU management issue any operating licence to any individual, group of people or company.
In the mean time, NatureNews Correspondent was able to monitor activities of miners within the OAU premises.
A walk through an untarred path towards Ede Road, beside Cooperative Hostel for students, this area revealed unhindered physical activities of illegal miners who are feasting and thriving on Nigeria’s commonwealth inside OAU land.
An inquisitive mind could not be deceived that illegal mining is ongoing on in this part of the OAU land.
A visit to this place exposed the illegal miners who are not bothered about what the OAU authority can do to stop them from doing what they regarded as a legitimate business.
While here, one will see some thick lorry lines deep into the sandy soil, and right beside the trees were piles of sand that could be seen from the tarred road.
Within the area is a man seen covering the path that led to the mining site with some tree branches.
He knew he was been watched but he pretended not to acknowledge the presence of people around him.
Related Posts
Going further, there they are, the illegal miners, digging deep into the ground with a brown-looking iron pans carefully placed at the bank of the plundered site.
Meanwhile, claims and counter claims have been going on at the ancient Ile-Ife town over illegal mining on the university land.
A senior lecturer at the OAU who pleaded for anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to news men on the issue, noted that what is currently taking place at Road 7 is the dredging of the school dam and not illegal mining.
However, another lecturer of the university confirmed the presence of illegal miners in the university.
He said these miners are currently encroaching on the university infrastructures, adding that illegal miners activities are negatively impacting on the university land.
What was observed is that the land area covered by the university is so vast. It extends from the known campus area as far as Moro town, where there the pre-degree campus was sited. The Ilesha bypass crosses the lnd. On the other hand, it extends close to Osu town around Ita village Orita Merin. Villages on OAU, it was gathered during investigations to be more than fifty.
As a result of its vastness, there are many streams and rivers on the university land, the main one being Opa River which has several tributaries.
Consequently, artisanal miners, some of whom have obtained mining licences on remote part of the vast land, take advantage of the villager’s ignorance and greed, often carried out illegal mining on the streams on the university land, without any recourse to the university authority.
Findings also revealed that, some of the streams on the land are tributaries of Opa River, where the university dam is situated. Hence, the waste products of illegal mining activities on the university land, containing lots of silt and clay flow into Op River, ending up in the the much talked about university dam and channels that leads to it.
But, a student of the university and son of the soil described the mentioning of OAU dam as a diversion from the truth.
According to him, the truth is that the university is not dredging any dam as claimed by one of their lecturers.
”That’s a big lie. They’re not dredging” for a dam,” he said. What the sponsors of illegal mining are doing here is to greedily take precious stones from the land for personal interest.
”We all know that the illegal mining is not being done by the university authority but by the well connected and people in high palces that the laws of the land cannot touch are behind illegal mining on the university land using Chinese people as fronts,” the young man noted.
