A group of CSOs has raised alarm concerning how extractive activities are ravaging communities in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The group comprising Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Ubuntu Environmental Development Foundation (UEDF), Eco Defenders Network (ECODEN), and Urban-Rural Environmental Advocacy (UREA), decried illegal mining operations and pollution in the FCT during a one-day training held at Mbuko Community on 22nd May, 2025.
According to Shehu Akowe, Project Lead at HOMEF who coordinated the training, “This is contrary to the Nigerian Mineral and Mining Act 2007, section 116, subsection (2), (3, a, b, c, d and e) including subsection (5) that states that ‘the Community Development Agreement shall be subject to review every 5 years, and shall, until reviewed, by the parties, have binding effect on the parties”. The community accused the companies of dodging Community Social responsibility (CSR) as enshrined in the NMMA.
The Youth Leader of the Mbuko community, Mr. Shedrack Isah, who represented the chief of the community, highlighted how dust, noise, and air pollution clouded the inhabitants of the community. He further stated that, although the companies spray water on the community access road daily, the level of extractive operation polluting the Mbuko residents is beyond such service and offer.
He further lamented that the community has been neglected throughout the company’s years of operation. He concluded that they only had CDA with both companies in their first year, about 14 to 15 years ago, and had not been reviewed since then.
Haruna Janet, a resident who also attended the training, lamented the unabated dust experienced daily and questioned why Mbuko residents are being subjected to such treatment.
In the same vein, Yakubu Josephine calls on the Federal Government for urgent attention to the Mbuko community issue. She further mentioned that there are many trucks ferrying mineral resources out of Mbuko day and night, leaving polluted air and harm for the community. She concluded that one of their happy days would be when the mining activities end in Mbuko, but she has no idea when it would be.
An environmental expert, Daramfon Bassey, the Director of UEDF, who also spoke at the event, said reckless mining practices in the Mbuko community are a time bomb to the FCT and its environs. He further stated that for climate change mitigation consciousness, the Federal government should reduce extractive industries. He concluded that there are no sustainable mining practices.
Godspower Martins, the Director of UREA, on the other hand, picked a hole in the 2007 Nigerian Mineral and Mining Act (NMMA). Mr Martins stated that the Act is obsolete and lacks the current reality of environmental challenges faced in the country, and therefore called for a repeal of the NMMA.
Recall that in September 2023, a landslide in the Kuje Area Council of Abuja, Nigeria, resulted in the deaths of at least 30 people. Extractive activities have been linked to a high rate of crime, hampering the safety and peaceful coexistence of host communities across the country.
Despite a clear role in the CDA and other host community rights, the FCT, Venus Mining Investment Limited, and Chief Corner Stone Investment Limited jointly flaunted the NMMA and operated illegally in Mbuko, disregarding the environmental harm caused to the residents.
The participants called on the government to take urgent action to stop the pollution in the Mbuko community and others like it.
