Senate Directs Sweeping Mining Safety Reforms after Kogi Landslide Kills 20
Sunday Aborisade in Abuja
The Senate on Wednesday directed far-reaching reforms to improve safety standards in Nigeria’s mining sector following the deaths of 20 artisanal miners in a landslide at Alufele in Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State, urging the federal government to tighten regulation of mining operations and establish compensation and insurance schemes for workers.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance sponsored by Senator Isah Jibrin (APC, Kogi East), who warned that unsafe mining practices and weak regulatory oversight had continued to expose miners and host communities to avoidable disasters.
Leading debate on the motion, Jibrin said the July 14 landslide at Alufele in Enjema District trapped dozens of artisanal and small-scale miners underground, leaving 20 dead, several others injured and heavy-duty trucks submerged in collapsed mining pits during loading operations.
