Artisanal miners have returned to the M.I. Wushishi mining site in Minna, Niger State, despite the arrest of scores of miners and the deaths of 37 detainees in Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, custody.
Many of the miners, including teenage boys, women and adults, were seen working at the site using shovels, picks and other hand tools to extract gold.
Some said they resumed mining shortly after the NSCDC raids because staying away from the site meant losing their only reliable source of income.
The development comes days after the NSCDC conducted anti-illegal mining operations around the Lt. Gen. Mohammed Inuwa Wushishi Estate and the Lukoto area on September 15 and 16, arresting scores of suspected illegal miners. The detainees were subsequently taken into NSCDC custody in Minna.
On September 17, 37 of those arrested were found dead in custody. The NSCDC initially attributed the deaths to a suspected disease outbreak but said the actual cause had not been established and would be determined through medical examinations.
The circumstances surrounding the deaths have since triggered public concern, with survivors and relatives raising questions about the conditions in which the detainees were held.
Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago disclosed that 67 artisanal and suspected illegal miners had been detained in the facility before 37 died.
Bago said investigators were considering several possible causes, including suffocation resulting from overcrowding and exposure to hazardous substances associated with mining, while stressing that no definitive cause had been established.
Despite the deaths and the security operation, miners returned to the M.I. Wushishi site. During a visit to the area, no security personnel were seen at the mining location, while workers continued to dig, scoop loose earth into sacks and pans and use a nearby stream to separate excavated materials.
One of the miners, Salisu DanMallam, said he stayed away from the site for two days after the NSCDC raid but returned because remaining at home had an immediate effect on his income.
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“I did not come out again since they made the arrest. I was not here on Tuesday and Wednesday because of the way the civil defence raided and that was why I did not come out,” he said.
DanMallam, who said he had mined in the area for more than 15 years, said there were few profitable alternatives available to him. “If you don’t come out for a day or two you will feel it because there are no profitable jobs,” he said.
He added that miners at the site had developed close ties over the years, describing the community as a family despite not being related by blood.
He said he was still unable to determine how many of his colleagues remained detained or had died following the arrests.
Another miner, 26-year-old Buhari Rabiu, said he had spent about two years working at the site. According to him, he and other miners fled after receiving information that NSCDC officers were approaching, only to later learn that security personnel had arrested people at the site.
Rabiu also alleged that he had previously been arrested during an NSCDC raid and sustained injuries during the encounter.
He said he was taken to hospital for treatment before his release after his parents intervened. He further alleged that ₦120,000 was collected for his release.
The miners’ decision to return underscores the economic pressures surrounding artisanal mining in the area, where some workers say mining remains more viable than other informal jobs available to them.
The renewed activity also highlights the difficulty authorities face in stopping informal mining solely through enforcement operations, particularly where communities depend on the activity for daily income.
Meanwhile, investigations into the deaths of the 37 detainees are continuing. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directed a comprehensive investigation, while Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo constituted a 10-member independent committee to examine the arrests, detention conditions, identities of the deceased and the circumstances and cause of their deaths. The committee has two weeks to submit its report.
The Federal Government has also suspended the Niger State NSCDC commandant and 20 other officers pending the outcome of the investigation. The NSCDC has separately begun an inquiry into the incident.
For the miners who have returned to M.I. Wushishi, however, the immediate concern remains survival, with some insisting that despite the dangers and uncertainty surrounding the mining site, they have few other ways to earn a living.
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