The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has raised the alarm over the environmental and human rights devastation wrought by mining activities on the original inhabitants of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The organisation further lamented that many original communities continued to experience a lack of potable water, healthcare facilities, other infrastructure and economic opportunities.

CHRICED’s Executive Director, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, raised the concerns in Abuja yesterday at the launch of a new phase of its project promoting the rights of indigenous FCT communities.

The project is a two-year initiative supported by the MacArthur Foundation to strengthen grassroots advocacy, cultural preservation and community-led documentation of human rights violations.

A major component of the project is the creation of the Abuja Native Heritage Centre, which will serve as a historical and cultural hub for the 17 chiefdoms of Abuja’s original inhabitants.

While describing the mining situation as a silent emergency that continues to displace, impoverish and endanger the lives of native communities in the capital city, Zikirullahi lamented that the original inhabitants were already marginalised by decades of systemic exclusion and political denial.

According to him, the judicial system has also failed to provide adequate support, even as the original inhabitants of Abuja have long demanded justice.

Zikirullahi called on the Federal Government to amend constitutional gaps that left Abuja’s indigenous communities without democratic rights equivalent to other states.

He also urged the FCT Administration to halt the demolition of native homes, address environmental degradation and prioritise investment in critical infrastructure within original inhabitant communities.