Mining communities in Enugu State have expressed concerns over the frequent violation of environmental safety and total disregard for their health by coal miners operating in their areas.
The communities, while lamenting that their sources of drinking water and livelihoods have been contaminated by mining activities, appealed to the Enugu State Government to intervene by ensuring that the mining consent obtained by companies conforms to global best practices to save them from pollution and other health hazards.
The communities made this appeal, through their traditional rulers and presidents-general, at a press briefing, yesterday, in Enugu, stressing that the decision to withdraw all consent was because of the failure of some of the companies living below expectations and destroying their vegetation, as well as farmlands through environmental degradation.
The statement reads in part: “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 to brazen disregard for the environmental safety of our people whose sources of water and farming have been polluted from the source.”
Speaking on behalf of all the mining communities in the state, the traditional ruler of Nsude Autonomous Community, in Udi Local Council, Igwe George Ejikeme Onoh, called on individuals and organisations interested in mining to reach out to the government through the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) to verify that they have the consent of communities, which complied with ethical, environmental and professional measures that guarantee the safety of their host communities.
“As a result of this, we would like to use this occasion to extend an invitation to all individuals/organisations interested in the mining sector to communicate with the state government through the SSG 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,” the statement added.
