The Oyo State Government on Monday sealed off illegal mining sites in Ibarapaland over Non- compliance with environmental and health related issues.
The Executive Chairman, Oyo State Mineral Development Agency, Hon Abiodun Oni, who led other officials of the agency to the quarry sites, said the companies operating there failed to comply with the laws of Oyo State.
Oni said that several letters of demand were written to the company without any result.
He said the operators left the state government with no other option than to shut down the sites, after several attempts with the operators proved abortive.
The Governor’s aide added that in days to come, the agency will focus more on legal miners who mining illegally in the state.
His words:
“You recall couple of weeks ago, there was this viral video that was sent out on the social media regarding illegal gold mining in the state. So, one of the exercises that we have decided to take in investigating to see the veracity of the video is to go out there and start looking at the mining, checking out about the truthfulness of the video.”
“There are lots of illegal mining in Oyo State and Nigeria in general. There is a lot of non-compliance with the environment and the safety of the people involved in this illegality at the mining sites. This particular mining site is becoming depressing, this dastardly act constitutes health hazards to residents of this community which is being aided by them. ‘For example, this is an abandoned site from where we are coming from. This site is abandoned for the state, who takes care of it? When the rainy season starts, this site get filled up and flooded.”
“We have such ditches across the state. Where our laws and policies fail us, miners are allowed to walk away from where they are mining and not even bothered about the reclamation for five years. So if you go and tell these guys that they should walk away from the sites, they will say they have more years to do reclamation.”
“We need a robust partnership with the federal government and the state to get the best from mining industries. When laws allow people to flout some normal and environmental and safety issues, what do we do?
“What we are doing in Oyo State is that we are acting within the purview of laws that sets up the agency, we have been inteled about the illegal mining, that doesn’t mean that we are confronting them. We are going to let the federal agents in the state to know about these illegal activities. It is left for the federal agents to find out but for us in Oyo State, we are responsible for the safety, health and environment of our citizens. We are not working against any law. These miners are not even confirming with the haulage which is the cheapest payment they are supposed to pay to the state. So, we have sealed this place as a result of their safety.” Oni concluded.
On her part, the Director of Mining Operation in Oyo State, Mrs Olufunke Omidiran said the Seyi Makinde led administration has sent the agency out to go round to ascertain what is going on, saying that’s why and how we discovered some new areas where these heinous crimes are going on.
The Governor is already supporting the Oyo State Mineral Development Agency for it to identify areas where these illegal activities are going on.