Boys abandoning schools for mining in Niger state,” They’ve tasted its money’—Umar Bago

Governor of Niger State, Umar Bago, says male children are abandoning junior secondary schools in the state for artisanal mining, which they consider more lucrative than education.

Bago spoke on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, where he described artisanal mining as a menace in the state.

The governor’s remark follows the death of 37 suspected illegal miners in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

The victims were among the scores of suspects arrested during operations conducted on September 15 and 16 around Lt Gen Mohammed Inuwa Wushishi Estate in Minna, the Niger state capital.

Following the development, the federal government suspended Suberu Aniviye, the Niger state NSCDC commandant, and 23 other officers, ordering a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

Bago said a report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Shiroro and other LGAs in the state projected that there could be no male children in JSS2 by 2027 because of artisanal mining.

We know that gold mining in Niger state has become habitual,” he said.

“The UNICEF report on Shiroro and other LGAs says by 2027, there will not be a single male child in Grade 8, that is JSS2, Grade 7, because all of them are into artisanal mining. They have left classrooms and are not in schools. This is a problem for us.”

The governor said the situation was difficult to tackle because the state government lacked direct control over security agencies and could not unilaterally order arrests or other operations against miners.

He said many of the children were unwilling to return to school after experiencing the financial gains from mining.

“But these people, because they have tested the mining money, cannot leave the site,” Bago said. ‘We need decisive action.

We need an executive order from the presidency, from the ministry of mineral resources, to ban mining in certain locations where we have seen they are problematic. Once that is done, it can be enforced.