MINING: NANS Charges Minister To Curb Alleged Illegality By Osun-based SROL

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), has called on the Minister of Mines and Steel, Arc Olalekan Adegbite to take the regulatory function of his ministry more seriously and put a stop to illegal and hazardous mining practices in the country or bring perpetrators out for punishments

They said it is ‘quite saddening and frightening that the relevant government agencies that should regulate activities of gold mining and also arrest culprits are also found wanting”

Making this call in a statement signed by the Southwest Coordinator of the student body,
Adejuwon Emmanuel Olatunji,
NANS, while citing the example of an Ilesha, Osun state-based mining concern, named Segilola Operating Resources Limited (SROL), describes the company’s activities as illegal, dangerous, and hazardous to human and environmental health.

“The attention of the National Association of Nigerian Students(NANS), Southwest (Zone D) has been drawn to the activities of Segilola Operating Resource Company concerning Gold mining and processing in Ijesha land of Osun State.

NANS, however, said they will not fold their hands and watch as the environment, particularly its members in Osun State College of Health Technology (OSCOTECH) are daily exposed to all sorts of life-threatening implications of the activities of SROL.

“Without mincing words and without engaging in unnecessary rhetorics, we all know the dangers gold mining possesses on the ecosystem most especially when it is not regulated or done in best practices. In addition to this, it contaminates water, causes slow growth rate in plants and respiratory problems, liver and kidney damage in man, and damages landscapes which lead to displacing communities and households.

“We are disturbed by the activities of Segilola Operating Resource Company and some other elements involved in illegal gold mining in Osun State most especially in the Ifewara-Ilesha axis of the State.

“As an association, we deem it fit to demand the observation of the whole mining site as being operated by Segilola Operating Resource Company in the Iperindo area of Ilesha to evaluate the physical impact of mining and to collect soil samples from the surface of the mined and un-mined area within the mining sites for some laboratory tests to be conducted on it.

“Going forward, we say a total NO to illegal mining in any part of the South Western region most especially Osun State”, Adegboye’s statement concluded.
New Telegraph