The Women In Mining In Nigeria (WIMIN) has reiterated the call for protection of the rights of women and children in the country’s mining industry, saying that in-depth research by WIMIN reveals alarming levels of gender and child abuse in the solid minerals sectors of Bauchi, Kogi and Ekiti States.
The President of the organization, Engr. Janet Adeyemi who reiterated the call said on Tuesday 20th June, at the Opening Ceremony of 2023 National Summit of the organization, in Abuja said ‘research exposes numerous cases of abuse in the sector that urgently need to be unveiled and addressed.’
Discussing the situation she said: “In Bauchi, for instance, private stakeholders raised an alarm regarding the increasing incidents of rape at mining sites.
She said government officials in the state acknowledge the challenge and expressed their commitment to addressing it, pledging to provide a safer mining environment for female miners.
‘Additionally, there is persistent occurrence of child labor at mining sites in Bauchi, where children below the age of ten are subjected to intensive labor alongside their mothers,” she said.
She noted that despite the executive order from the Deputy Governor of Bauchi State banning the presence of children at mining sites, the problem remains unsolved.
Discussing the effort made by WIMIN to address the challenge, she said: “In response, Women in Mining In Nigeria extended our advocacy to Bauchi State. We visited key actors in the solid minerals sector and organized a State Policy Dialogue, bringing together stakeholders to focus on strategic ways to end gender and child abuse in the sector.
“In the presence of female miners in Bauchi, State actors and stakeholders in the solid minerals sector demonstrated unwavering commitment to ending all forms of abuse and strengthening their relationship with female miners.”
Further discussing the efforts of WIMIN, Adeyemi, who is a Mining Engineer and Fellow of the Nigerian Mining and Geoscience Society (NMGS), said: “We organized the female miners and inaugurated a fully functional State Chapter of Women in Mining in Bauchi State, which will champion the realization of our goals.”
While describing the inauguration of Bauchi State Chapter of WIMIN was a remarkable success, she however lamented the sudden death of the pioneer member of Bauchi State WIMIN and Coordinator, Hajia Nafisatu Baba.
Discussing the state of women and children in the mining industry in Ekiti State, Engr. Adeyemi said the organization encountered an organized mining sector consisting of five interdependent sub-sectors.
“The participation of women in the mining in Ekiti State is high, while the solid minerals sector in the state is accommodating to women.”
The WIMIN President said: “I wish to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to the former and incumbent first ladies of Ekiti State for their commitment to ending gender abuse,” adding that the office of the first lady of Ekiti State has shown zero tolerance for such abuse, even when it involved a woman’s husband.
She commended Ekiti State for implementing various mechanisms to track gender abuse in the solid minerals sector.
While saying that WIMIN observed gaps concerning child sexual exploitation in Ekiti State, she noted that the free education policy has not stopped the challenge.
According to her, some female children in a mining community in the State are discouraged from attending school due to extreme poverty and the inability to afford educational materials, sometimes as low as two hundred Naira.
“In Ekiti State, it is common to see out-of-school children who are breadwinners for their families by temporarily working on mining sites until the harvest season,” Adeyemi said, adding that some parents in Ekiti State rely on their young daughters for financial support.
“Some parents even pressure their teenage daughters to engage in relationships with men for money. As a result, eight out of every ten girls in Ekiti are pregnant, and these girls are between the ages of 13 and 16,” she averred.
She said in order to proffer solution to the challenges, Women in Mining in Nigeria organized capacity-building programs in Ekiti State where members of WIMIN were trained on safe mining practices, human rights values, the menace of child labor and sexual exploitation, and the redress system within the extractive sector. “We also returned to Ekiti for advocacy and policy dialogues to tackle the issue of child labor and sexual exploitation in the state’s solid minerals sector,” she said.
“Today, we have gained the support of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, the Ekiti State Minerals Resource Development Agency, the Federal Mines Office in Ekiti State, the National Human Rights Commission in Ekiti State, the Ekiti State Mineral Resource Development Agency, and other key actors in the state,” she said.
According to her, the stakeholders have pledged their commitment to supporting WIMIN in its efforts to end sexual exploitation and child labor in the solid minerals sector.
Discussing the effort of WIMIN to end abuses in Kogi State, Adeyemi said: “Our final stop was Kogi State, where we were confronted the disturbing reports of gender rights
violation, torture of women, and child labor in the solid minerals sector.”
“I wish to express my deepest sorrow over the tragic loss of lives that occurred on May 29, 2022, when some female miners and their children lost their lives in a mining accident in Kogi State.”
“Among the survivors were children who suffered skull fractures and a female miner who had her arm amputated,” she said, adding that although female miners are allowed to participate in the mining sector in Kogi State, they are often subjected to attacks at isolated mining sites, sometimes by security operatives.
