Environmentalists, Former Miners Demand Environmental Audit of Environment around Coal Mines

Chiemelie Ezeobi

Civil society advocates led by the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) on Thursday, August 22, 2024, urged the Federal Government to carry out a comprehensive audit of moribund coal mining sites in Enugu to ascertain the true health of the bed rocks.

 The group also wants disengaged living miners and the families of those that have died over the years to be identified and adequately compensated for the neglect they have experienced since legal mining stopped.

These demands were made at a town hall and media interactive discussion on coal mining in Enugu convened by RDI in collaboration with the New Life Community Care Initiative (NELCCI), Neighborhood Environmental Watch (NEW) Foundation, Community Development Advocacy Foundation (CODAF) and the Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN). Participants included former miners and the wards of those from Onyeama, Okpara and Iva Valley mining communities that are deceased.

Philip Jakpor, Executive Director, RDI said that recent reports on the recertification of mining firms by the Enugu state government was very disturbing in the light of the harms that coal mining has done to the state’s environment and its citizens.  

Jakpor said that nearly 70 years of coal mining activity did not leave any positive legacy on Enugu’s finances, its environment and the few surviving former coal miners, many of whom live in squalor, deprivation and regret hence the state government should halt the coal mine adventure.

The RDI boss opined that rather than promote investment in dirty energy, the Enugu state government with ample evidence of the consequences of coal on the environment should be in the vanguard for calls for remediation of the environment and a just energy transition that respects the people and the environment.

He lamented the lack of information about the mining firms operating in the state, urging the Governor Peter Mbah administration to periodically update citizens in respect to the government engagement with the firms. He also wants the Enugu government to properly explain its role in the extraction of coal, if it is a spectator, a collaborator or only some officials of government are running the show.

In his remarks, Barrister Chima Williams, Executive director of EDEN, said that the call for environmental audit and decommissioning of the coal mines are necessary in view of the threats that mining pits and pollution of ground water pose to local communities.

Williams maintained that it was grave injustice for veterans of the mines in Enugu to be living in abject poverty while the state government concerns itself only about so called revenue that coal will fetch the state.

He stressed that civil society groups will continue to remind those in government that they are tasked with managing what sustains life hence they should concern themselves with the impacts that coal has on the lives and livelihoods of locals including veterans of coal mining.

He maintained that there is no alternative to the recommended decommissioning of the moribund coal mines as coal has been proven to be dirty and hazardous to man and the environment.

Ubrei Joe-Mariere, Director, Campaigns and Administration, Community Development Advocacy Foundation (CODAF) also toed the same line, even as he argued that the Enugu state government should not be talking of mining at this time when the global community is moving in the direction of clean energy.

He asserted that coal mining disrupts the social and economic lives of local communities, that it is a major cause of landslides and erosion.

According to him, large scale mining favors only the multinationals because of the power relations that weigh against the communities in terms of governance of their lands and their ability to seek redress when their rights to a safe environment is violated.

Other speakers at the event were Afulike Okezie of NEW Foundation and Ebere Ekeokpara, a journalist from Ngwo. Okezie said coal affects not just the economic landscape, but also the health and well-being of communities, as well as the sustainability of our environment.

Ekeokpara who said her father, a former coal miner dedicated over 45 years of his life to coal mining, added sadly, that he has almost nothing to show in terms of recognition or the financial wherewithal to justify the hard work he did.

Earlier, while welcoming the participants, Florence Ngozi-Aneke, Executive Director of NELCCI said that the coal issue is one that needs to be addressed squarely to ensure the rehabilitation of the environment and abandonment of former miners, many of whom are dead and their families still living with the trauma of dashed hopes.