A few years after a private company, Morlap Mining and Processing Limited formerly operating under the license of Nigerian Marble Mining Company in Igbeti City, Oyo State, went moribund, another quarry has emerged but with untold hardship for the people, reports GABRIEL OGUNJOBI
“Away! Away!! Away!!!” accompanied by minutes of whistleblowing are usually the alert of the artisanal miners anywhere marble is explored in Igbeti City in Olorunsogo Local Government Area of Oyo State.
The announcement impels everyone at the various locations of the quarry to steer clear and run as far as the feet could take them before blasting; before the most dangerous undertaking in mining is launched.
One reason any of the miners at Alaguntan Quarry could miss this is if the blasting is being carried out at the Glister Success Limited, the neighbouring quarry to Alaguntan owned by Engineer Bamidele Babatunde.
If anyone is ever unlucky, the worst could happen – that being death.
‘Earn as you work’: Why artisanal mining matters in Igbeti.
‘Everybody must hustle. Our work is very hard but with no choice’, Leviticus Alli, now 35, says in justification of why over 100 of them are determined to defy the odds of daily near-death experiences at the quarry.
Alongside his brother in 2012, he came from Plateau State to eke a living in Igbeti.
He gave a stint into their operation; narrating that:
“After blasting, we jack and break the stones (marbles) before loading on tippers. Some stones may be too big to carry once. What we do is to divide it into two.
For Leviticus, manual labour is paying off already. After his elder brother retreated to the village for commercial bike-riding, he’s been able to keep track of his savings from a stipend of N2, 500 and in five years, the middle-aged man now has his own landed property back home.
Apart from this achievement, Leviticus is discontented about the lack of machinery which could have relieved them in their tedious job.
“Everything we do here is manual labour. We don’t use machines and Oje is not trying to get any. No, tell them say I talk am o. You go still hear am from other people’, he sharply said, making his way to the pit for the final lap of the day’s activities.
Work begins at the quarry at 6:00 a.m. on Monday till Saturday and ends anytime from 5:30 p.m. There is usually a long break of four hours from 11 in the morning.
With a few out of use, over 100 pits are at the quarry and seven to 14 labourers who travelled from the country’s northern region – mostly Plateau State – work at each of the pits.
Just two kinds of machinery – the pumping machine: for draining of water from the pit; and compressor used for drilling for the explosives to be planted before blasting – could be observed throughout the quarry.
Alaguntan’s artisanal mining is generally characterised by intense manpower with rudimentary equipment such as hammers, bars, hoes and head pans.
Safety tools are unevenly distributed and none of them has helmets to protect against any accident, nor nose cover – they simply inhale marble dust unadulterated.
While half of these risky endeavours can be conveniently undertaken by using an excavator for an hour or two, one of either rain boots or hand gloves are what their employers (operators) can only afford for each of them.
A younger man, NewLife Sunday, 24, lamented that his toiling may earn him a paltry N2, 000 a week. Why?
‘To break and load a tipper is between N1, 500 and N1, 700 at our pit. If you can do that in two or three days, fine, you’ll get your money. But, if it’s still within a week, you will get the same.
The only thing that makes the difference is that some pits are closer to the parking space for the trailers. Those earn lesser than the labourers loading into a trailer at a farther distance’, he said.
Sometimes, home beckons at NewLife from Benue State because of the hardship at Igbeti yet he remains uncertain when that would be.
“The risks are plenty. Those marbles you see are very sharp and the injuries sustained don’t heal up on time’, lightly adding that “they call us food basket but there’s nothing there. I have not achieved anything but just want to save a little money and go back to invest in a shop.”
Major health risks in mining include exposure to dust which may cause silicosis from the inhalation of free crystalline silica.
Additional risks are exposure to mercury, carbon monoxide; noxious gases such as sulphur dioxide and nitrous fumes from explosive dynamite blasts. The effectsof exposure to these hazards, especially among minors (aged under 18 years), include constant headaches, joint disorders, visual problems and dermatological, muscular and orthopaedic ailments.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimatesthat the workplace fatality rate of small-scale miners is about 90 times higher than that for large-scale mines in industrialised countries.
As observed at the Alaguntan quarry, informal mining poses even more hazards than what may be found in a highly organised and/or regulated large-scale operation.
For example, the ILO estimatesthat non-fatal accidents are six to seven times more common in informal mining operations when compared to large-scale operations.
A tale of farmers-turned miners
The 2017 Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (FPI) of the Federal Government sought to make fertilisers available to Nigerian farmers at affordable prices of N5,000 from the initial cost range of N8,000 to N9,000 for the imported products, but Benjamin and Machel said they still bought a bag for N9,500 in Plateau before they ventured into mining early this year to make up for the overbearing cost of fertiliser.
“We plant Irish potatoes but not without the use of fertilisers. Here, I haven’t seen any farmer using fertilisers because the land is good but over there, we must use fertilisers”, Benjamin said.
“A farm will consume at least seven to eight bags of fertiliser,” Machel added.
The consumption quantity of fertilisers remains high despite the cost. Last year, the IFDC in collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and other international agencies reportedthat fertiliser uptake by Nigerian farmers increased by 63 per cent in 2017, rising from 959,364 metric tons in 2016 to 1,564,816 metric tons.
If Benjamin and Machel can save substantial capital, they plan to finally return to their farms a few years later.
The task is not only herculean on the site; theirs is also a squalid accommodation arrangement. They live in huts within the over 30 hectares of the quarry, hidden amid the thick forests – typical of a local farm – and as far as 30 kilometres away from the town.
Their typical afternoon is relished by the roasting of corn harvested from the farm nearby. After all, it will take them till Saturday evening or Sunday before they can spare the time to visit the town.
Wind of suspicion everywhere
In spite of the suspicion that earlier greeted the reporter’s appearance at the mining site confirmed to be owned by Hon. Jacob Ojekunle (the operator Leviticus, the labourer, had called ‘Oje’), the Oyo State Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, he applied more tactics as he presented himself as a student-researcher in other pits approached.
It became, however, more apparent that the awareness had swiftly spread to the pit belonging to Sunday Aro Balogun, one-time Vice-Chairman of Olorunsogo Local Government Area.
Balogun has three pits at the same site but two are already overtaken by water.
John Idowu, the manager who was attending to a tipper offloading marbles from the pit to a farther distance, declined to speak on their mining operation.
He would rather refer all enquiries to his boss, the supposed operator of the quarry.
The security man, whose accent gave out as an Igbo man almost put up similar resistance but later snitched on their experience, as he was further interrogated.
“I won’t allow you to do anything on the site because I will be queried if one hears about it. This kind of thing also happened last year when some Chinese claimed they came to do some surveys, I hindered them.
“My oga later heard about it and applauded my action. I know he is also trying to avoid any form of suspected government’s intervention,” he said.
Asked if there are minor works at the quarry, he hinted that ‘there’s no technicality in learning how to do this but can only be dared by able-bodied. They (underage) have what they do too. “We fit buy bags for them to dey bag the crumbles of marble”, he code-switched to Pidgin English.
Although no minor was seen around at the moment our reporter visited the site, the assertion of this man conflicts with the conventions of the International Labour Organisation that banned child labour which Nigeria is a signatory to and has ratified or domesticated.
Not only that, even the seemingly sturdy men admitted that the works take a cue on their well- being.
“Honestly, we are not enjoying ourselves. We are just enduring”, Benjamin Abashe, one of Balogun’s 10 workers said.
Abashe’s assertion was buttressed by his colleague Japheth Thomas who said: “We don’t have the necessary safety tools. Even the hand gloves we use are torn. If we request for new ones, we will get them late,” showing some cuts on his palm.
Chapter 4 under Obligation of an Exploration License Holder of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, (2007), states that:
“(1) every holder of an exploration license shall –
*conduct exploration activities in a safe, friendly, skilful, efficient and workmanlike manner under the regulations;
*conduct exploration activities in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.”
Here, at this quarry, there seems to be a disregard for these provisions, thereby compromising the health of its workers.
Both didn’t fail to ask the reporter for a stipend to ‘hold the body’.
Attempt to seek Balogun’s audience failed. At past 7:00 in the morning on Sunday, October 6, he simply referred the reporter to the same manager who had previously claimed he could not speak on the matter because he was not authorised to so do.
The plight of local farmers
At 2:43 p.m. on Friday, October 4, some local farmers struggled to push their two vehicles loaded with yams that sunk at a river called ‘Pakoko-ona’.
They were weary, yet managed to relive a stint of hope even though that didn’t come without attributing blame on miners that gave a reason for the perpetual traversing of trailers used for marble transportation from Alaguntan; leaving the road in a terrible state.
“Does it look like the government isn’t aware of our plight? They come here seeking our votes periodically but fail to deliver on their promises’, Pa. Bashiru said, adding that the situation gets horrid whenever it rains.
In spite of this yearly experience, rain is no longer a blessing to Igbeti farmers but a curse because of their experiences in the farms.
Kolade Oladokun, another farmer in Igbeti, said:”The major problem farmers have in Igbeti is bad roads. Before now, we are usually short-changed by middlemen.
“We can’t easily evacuate our farm produce to the town for sales because of poor roads, especially during the rainy season. If we wait until the season is over, the farm produce will perish and we run into debts. Those trucks that carry marbles are compounding the problem.”
To avert further consequences of farming near a mining site, some of the farmers withdrew lest they risk being hit by marble when blasting operations are on.
“The miners know how they sort themselves out but for us, we had to move a bit farther from the site because if one of those stones hits one in the farm, one can’t survive it,” Kolade said.
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