Why stakeholders don’t want return  to coal mining in Enugu

Environmentalists and stakeholders including community members and children of coal miners, have jointly issued a warning over the environmental impacts of coal mining investments while calling for an exploration of potential in renewable energy sources.

Recently, a town hall meeting on coal mining was organised by the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) in collaboration with its local partners – New Life Community Care Initiative (NELCCI), Neighborhood Environmental Watch (NEW) Foundation as well as the Community Development Advocacy Foundation (CODAF) and Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN).

The engagement also involved locals from Okpara, Onyeama and Iva Valley coal mines. Their aim was to x-ray the status of coal mining in Enugu in view of media reports and activities that suggest a planned commencement of mining activities at a time that the global community is embracing clean energy.

“Our worry is that nearly 70 years of coal mining activity, it did not leave any positive legacy for Enugu; not on its finances or its environment and definitely not for the few surviving former coal miners, many of whom live in squalor, deprivation and regret,” said Philip Jakpor of RDI.

“We believe 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 a just energy transition that respects the people and the environment,” he added.

Recall that exploration of coal began proper in present day Enugu State in 1909, with production at the mines in Onyeama, Ogbete, Iva Valley and Okpara climbing from 25, 511 tonnes in 1916 to an estimated 583,422 toness before a decline set in during the Nigerian Civil War which started in 1967 and ended 1970. At the end of the war, most parts of the South east had been ravaged and many expatriate mining experts, mostly from Britain and Poland left Nigeria. The exit of experts coupled with the discovery of commercial quantity of crude oil made the Nigerian government to be complacent as it abandoned coal mining and the massive infrastructure at the mines managed then by the Nigerian Coal Corporation (NCC).

The NCC tried to manage operations unsuccessfully for another 30 years but it did not succeed. It finally folded up in 2002. The former miners were not laid off and neither was their employment terminated. The only legacy of mining the few still alive have is the Colliery Quarters near Iva Valley where those whose properties were not sold by the government still live.

At the meeting, Ebere Ekeopkara, a journalist from Ngwo in Udi local government area, whose father is a former miner said: “Mining did not bring any tangible benefit to my old father or us the family. He was one of the most hard working and experienced miner when the mines were in operation because he was trained in Poland. But there was never a time that we had enough in the family. Every Christmas we lacked the basics that other families had. Even when he left mining he was owed his meagre pension.”

Mr Mathew Ani, who was recruited into mining in 1975, said: “Aside the hazard of going into the rocks that could cave in, we were owed. Even though I have left service I am living in penury. As we speak I being owed 30 months pension.”

Ubrei Joe-Mariere, Director, Campaigns and Administration, Community Development Advocacy Foundation (CODAF), said: “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. Coal mining disrupts the social and economic lives of local communities. It is a major cause of landslides, erosion and large scale mining favours only the multinationals.”

In a joint statement issued at the end of the meeting, the stakeholders noted that, “At a time, the Federal Government’s signed a $3.7 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Chinese firm–HTG-Pacific Energy Consortium, to generate power from coal in Enugu. That development unsettled the local communities, most of whom were in the dark as regards the project and its likely impact on their environment. In 2013, the coalfields were sold by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to new owners with a working agreement with the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) to generate an estimated 1,000 megawatts from coal. That initiative is yet to see the light of day.

“These state of affairs persisted till June 2023 when the Enugu State Government announced a ban on illegal mining in Enugu and began the sealing of illegal coal mining sites and sites without environmental impact certifications and mitigation to checkmate activities of artisanal miners. While this action was good, we had anticipated that the state government would work with the Federal government to carry out an environmental audit to ascertain the true health of the bed rocks to continue to sustain life in Enugu. There are fears that Enugu may be sitting on a time bomb due to the underground mining that happened during the mining periods.

“We believe that the right thing to have been done is to begin the decommissioning of sites that had become moribund and dangerous for the locals. But instead it would seem the state government embarked on a re-certification exercise of miners. The announcement last month by the Enugu State Government of December as the deadline for mineral title holders to commence coal mining operations in the state lends credence to our argument.

“It is standard practice that once a mine becomes moribund it is decommissioned and the environment rehabilitated. Unfortunately this was not done for decades. The lands in the mining communities became overgrown with weeds and taken over by reptiles. There are many cases of the earth collapsing when locals are farming. There are open pits, ground water polluted and the communities overrun by herdsmen who have practically scared and chased away the original land owners.

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Former miners are now old and not properly compensated or rehabilitated. The quarters where they lived have been sold to new owners and many of the old miners forced to relocate to poorer neighborhoods.

“We have equally observed with dismay that the new mining companies are operating in communities where the locals know nothing about their background and what they are doing not in public domain for adequate scrutiny. Construction works are ongoing and Chinese merchants are here like they are in virtually all communities in Nigeria where mining without regulation is happening.

“While the state government has set a commencement deadline of December 2023 locals allege that trucks laden with coal are leaving Enugu every day and no proper documentation to know if it is illegally done or with the full support of the state government. If it is with the support of the state, we should know how much revenue is now coming in. We do not want to believe that a few individuals are now reaping what is the commonwealth of Enugu citizens.”

Stakeholders among other demands pressed for the Federal Government to commence full and detailed audit of coal mining in Enugu; decommissioning of the moribund mines to avoid further environment degradation and loss of human life; profiling of former miners and adequate compensation paid to them; make public any agreements the companies have with the coal mining communities and explore potentials in renewable energy sources.