Our gold: Tinubu’s silence is no longer golden

By Ikeddy ISIGUZO

THE appointment of Dr. Henry Dele Alake as Honourable Minister of Solid Minerals Development, was largely seen as a reflection of the interest that the President has in gold. How has that worked?

Silence has attended the solid minerals sector after the initial complaints that Alake made that illegal miners were after him. "The mines marshal, an inter-agency security outfit will incorporate special operatives from other security agencies like the Nigeria," according to the Ministry. The mines marshals have been established with elaborate buzz since March 2024.

An important question that the Federal Government refuses to answer is the ownership of Nigeria's solid mineral assets. Unending photo opportunities cannot provide the answer.  

Why is gold treated differently from oil and gas? Is government afraid to confront the illegal miners?

Gold, which is said to be found in such abundances in Zamfara (more than 40 percent of discoveries in Nigeria) holds the most attention. The mines are in the hands of private, mostly illegal, miners.

Annually, Nigeria runs in circles over lead poisoning in Zamfara State. The cause of the lead poisoning is illegal and unregulated mining of gold in those places. There is no protection for the ordinary Nigerians, including children, who are affected by the pollution. Some of them are not even involved in the mining but they died from contamination of water, foods, or materials used in the illegal mining.

Reports indicated that lead poisoning incidence from illegal mining activities in Zamfara State from 2010 to 2011 had led to the death of at least 735 children, mostly aged 0 to 5 years, and has left thousands of others ill with the lead poisoning, according to (Uribe UU, Ekom RA, Ekpo EA. Soil Lead concentrations in Dareta Village, Zamfara State. Nigeria. Journal of Health Pollution. 2019;23(2009):1-15). The numbers may not be so high now, but the factors that enhanced the 2010 deaths are still available.

Government does nothing about the pollution since it would mean accounting for the gold mining. It has also abandoned the poor, who cannot do anything about the illegalities in Zamfara and most of the places gold and other solid minerals are found.

What is going on with our gold? What will gold contribute to the Federation Account in 2026? What percentage from the sale of gold goes to the gold-producing States? Why do we discuss gold in whispers?

For how long will government keep up the presence that it does not know that the insecurity in the North West is driven by the high level of illegal mining in the region? Fights for control of the mines are implicated in the multiplicity of groups that exert influence in the zone. The scenario is not much different from the armed groups that almost stopped oil and gas exploration in the South South.

In two years of Tinubu, what was the official contribution of gold to the economy? Does Nigeria need money from oil and gas, but not gold? Is it possible that the gold is not ours?

These issues are too important that the President's silence is no longer golden.

Finally...

CHICAGO is back in the news, at the instance of President Tinubu, who launched another unnecessary effort to impressed Nigerians that he was at the famed city of jazz for studies. Tinubu introduced his mate at Chicago State University, CSU, who was also his neighbour. The said mate, reportedly a billionaire businessman was beside himself with joy. Alex Zingman, born in 1966, was 13 when Tinubu left CSU in 1979. One day, Chicago State University will remember to honour its alumnus who is the President of Nigeria. Delay is not denial!

IBB Golf Club, Abuja, does not belong to former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, though the name may so suggest. The Club actually belongs to you and I, being a property of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Its location places it under the charge of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike weighed into troubles at the Club by introducing complications that are uniquely his. They could result in interference with the judiciary. While matters on the Club are in court, Wike appointed an Interim Management Committee, IMC, possibly within his powers. It gets more interesting that Hon. Justice Monica Bolna'an Dongban-Mensem, serving President of the Court of Appeal, is Chairperson of Wike's IMC, she gladly accepted. The cases include one against the IMC. How would Justice Dongban-Mensem manage these matters when they get to the Court of Appeal. What informed Wike's choice of the head of the IMC?

WHAT should we do about Abdullahi Ganduje, immediate past Governor of Kano, who has just lost his position as National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC? As a top ally of the President, he should join the 2027 contest for the vice presidential slot which has been declared vacant. Ganduje's experience should not be allowed to waste.

PEACE will not return to Rivers State in any worthy manner because those negotiating the return to normalcy cannot admit that their major challenge is managing their greed. Until they restrain their greed, the meaningless meetings will continue.

EDUCATION in public schools in Federal Capital has been on hold for more than two months. Teachers are on strike. They have not been paid. The FCT is focused on commissioning roads and bridges. Whoever is blamed, whatever the reasons, the children are out of school. Will help come, soon?

NIGERIA National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, is getting some Senators angry by deciding when its officials would offer oral responses to issues raised in audits of NNPCL. The officials said they were on retreat and needed two months to provide answers. I can give NNPCL the answers immediately - this didn’t happen under our watch. The answer is truthful.

CRIMES are being sectionalised, indigenised, and finally their seriousness decided by the State of the victims. Governors, who do not lift a finger when crimes are committed in their domains, have fallen into a habit of raising hell if indigenes of their States are killed elsewhere. They also defend their indigenes if they killed people in other States. We should stop minimising crimes no matter who commits them.

JUSTICE E.C. Mwita of a Nairobi High Court has ruled on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s abduction from Kenya thus: “First, the government of Kenya violated the Constitution and Mr. Nnamdi Kanu’s rights and fundamental freedoms. Having entered Kenya lawfully, he was subject to the protection offered by the Constitution of Kenya 2010, and the government of Kenya had an obligation to uphold and protect his rights and fundamental freedoms. Mr. Nnamdi was, however, abducted, kept in solitude confinement, tortured and denied food and medication, and a breach of basic rights. He was chained, humiliated, ridiculed, and held in contempt and later forcibly removed from Kenya without following the law in violation of his rights and fundamental freedoms for which the government of Kenya is liable”. The court made an order for compensation awarding Mr. Nwannekaenyi Nnamdi Kenny Okwu-Kanu general damages of Kshs 10,000,000 against the Attorney General of Kenya on behalf of the government of Kenya for the violation of Mr. Nwannekaenyi Nnamdi Kenny Okwu-Kanu’s constitutional rights and fundamental freedoms”. Professor PLO Lumumba represented Kanu.

Isiguzo is a major commentator on minor issues