The story of how an ongoing strip-mining of coal by Dangote Group is endangering lives in rural Okpokwu and Otukpo communities of Benue State
Dangotes’ site offices at Effeche-Akpali
When Dangote Group of Companies began in early February 2020 the mining of coal in Effeche, a small rural Community of Akpali in Ugbokolo Council Ward of Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State, little did the inhabitants of the moderately mountainous settlement imagine that a fundamental danger to their health, general wellbeing and pattern of existence was lurking in the corner.
Less than two months after Dangote Group’s commencement of coal exploration, it is now public knowledge that the danger extends far beyond little Effeche-Akpali to several other communities in Okpokwu and Otukpo Local Government Areas.
In a brief visit to the mining site, the National Record observed that the exploration is being carried out through a process known as surface or strip-mining. In this process, the top layers of soil and rock, known as overburden, are totally scraped-off leaving bare the coal for excavation.
Excavated coal at the site
Though reportedly not using explosives for the removal of the overburden which in the past pitched environmentalists and communities in heighten resistance against mining companies, Dangote’s less than two-month coal exploration in Effeche-Akpali is now seen as a major threat to the overall survival of hundreds of thousands of people in particularly Edumoga District of rural Okpokwu.
As we go to press, there is increasing indignation as the youths in the district under the aegis of Edumoga Youth Movement are agitated and mobilising to halt the exploration on the ground that Dangote’s mining activities have poisoned the two major sources of water on which Upper Edumoga inhabitants depend on. These are River Okoolo and River Umabe.
A video of the pollution of River Umabe produced by the Youth Movement and made available to National Record, can be watched here.
National Record gathered that River Okoolo, which has its source from the hills of Effeche-Akpali but flows into River Umabe, is the primary source of contamination. River Umabe incidentally has its source in Effa, Effeche’s closest neighbours; from where it meandered several kilometres downstream, serving as the sole source of water for dozens of communities with a cumulative population estimated to be between 50-70 thousand people before joining with River Ohimini to form a bigger river; River Okpokwu.
Coal, stripped bare
River Okpokwu, from which Okpokwu Local Government Area derives its name, incidentally is the source from which Benue State-owned Otobi Water Works that serves the City of Otukpo gets its water.
The implication of this is that the poisoning of Rivers Okoolo and Umabe by Dangote Group’s mining exploration poses dangerous health challenges for far greater population beyond the about 30 rural communities who for generations have directly depended on them as their only sources of potable water.
Okpokwu Local Government Reacts
Hon. Ameh (aka Pronto)
Realising the health risks facing its people by the contamination of the waters of River Okoolo and Umabe by the coal mining exploration by Dangote Group, the authorities of Okpokwu Local Government Council reached out to the Benue State government for intervention.
According to Hon. Ameh Emmanuel, popularly known as Pronto, when the information on the mining got to him, he drew the attention of Senator Abba Moro, who currently represents Benue South Senatorial District at the 9th Senate and under whose legislative purview are the 9 local government areas in Idoma land. Hon Ameh said Senator Moro advised that as the then most senior political office holder in the local government prior to the recent local government election, he should write to brief the Benue State government.
“As the then most senior political officer in the local government in the absence of the LG Chairman and Vice Chairman, I wrote a petition to the Honourable Commissioner for Water Resources and Environment.
“I went to Makurdi myself, I met with Hon. Solomon Onah, who is the General Manager of Benue State Environmental Sanitation Authority (BENSESA), which is related to environment and water issues, and we went to submit the petition together.
“The petition covers the water issue in Ugbokolo and Amejo. We did not include Eke because Eke’s issue was not brought to our attention at that time. It was after that that it came to our knowledge,” Hon. Ameh said.
In the petition to the Commissioner of Water Resources and Environment, Engr. Dondo Ahire, dated 27th April, 2020, and signed by Honourable Emmanuel, the local government categorically stated that the pollution of Rivers Okoolo and Umabe was due “to the mining activities of Dangote Group of Companies in Affeche-Akpali Community.”
In the petition, entitled: “ILLEGAL POLLUTION OF RIVERS OKOOLO AND UMABE IN OKPOKWU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF BENUE STATE BY THE MINING ACTIVITIES OF DANGOTE GROUP OF COMPANIES,” Hon. Ameh noted in detail thus:
“Sometimes in the month of February, 2020, I received complaints by the representatives of Ugbokolo ward and Amejo ward all in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State on the illegal pollution of rivers Okoolo and Umabe due to the mining activities of Dangote Group of Companies in Effeche-Akpali Community, Ugbokolo.
“Sir, recently, it has been observed by the residents of the above wards that Dangote Group of Companies is mining coal in an area known as Effeche-Akpali which is a community in Ugbokolo ward located between rivers Okoolo and Umabe.
“Consequently, the mining activities by the said Dangote Company in Effeche-Akpali is spilling over these two great rivers and causing pollution thereby occasioning serious health hazard to over 14 communities in the above wards.”
Hon. Ameh said the petition was a cry to the Benue State government “to assuage our pains and kindly come to our rescue, because of the importance of these rivers to the inhabitants of these communities.”
While listing the communities affected by the pollution and asking for urgent intervention of the state government, Hon. Ameh said apart from rendering the water undrinkable, farming activities in the respective communities has been severely affected including livestock and aquatic activities.
“As law abiding citizens we have decided to petition this wrong to your office praying that you use your good office to address this wrong.
“The present global Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is causing pains to the lives of Nigerians, and any further pains added to this would spell doom to over 50 thousand people in these communities,” the petition stressed.
The communities named in the petition as affected by the pollution include, Effa, Akpali, Effeche-Akpali, Okekwu, Ondo, Ai’Obida and Aokpe, all under Ugbokolo Ward. Communities affected in Amejo Ward include Ichakwu, Ogwudoja, Oduda, Opidlo, Ogene, Olanyega, Otobi and Ijege.
The three state and federal lawmakers representing the areas affected by the mining exploration were all copied in the petition. They include Senator Abba Moro, representing Benue South Senatorial District at the 9th Senate, Honourable Francis Ottah, Member representing Okpokwu-Ado-Ogbadibo Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives and Honourable Tony Agom, Member representing Okpokwu State Constituency at the Benue State House of Assembly. Also copied is the General Manager, Benue State Environmental Sanitation Authority, Makurdi, who hails from Amejo Ward.
In a telephone interview with National Record, Hon. Ameh admitted that in compiling the list of victims of the pollution, a number of communities were inadvertently left out. According to him, the petition was based on an on the spot assessment of just a few communities after an initial complaint. He said the local government subsequently received complaints from several other communities on he said they described as something unusal happening to their river.
Such communities, National Record enquiries find, include, Umabe-Ehaje in Ugbokolo Ward; Ijaji, a settlement in Ogene; and Ogbodo Village in Amejo Ward. Ogbodo has two fairly large settlements. There are a number of large communities under Eke Ward, said Hon. Ameh. These include Ogblega, Okplegu, Ogbehe-Achebe, Ai’Okpasu, Omokwu, Okonakpa, Omiakpo, Omlokpo, Okete and Jericho, where rivers Umabe and Ohimini merged to form River Okpokwu.
Apart from these communities, our correspondent also gathered that there a number of hamlets scattered across the wards whose population depend on River Umabe. We were also told that at the peak of dry seasons, people come from far-flung communities in Edumoga district, including Ugbokolo Township, to bath and fetch water from River Umabe for drinking and domestic use.
A visit by our correspondent round some of the communities a fortnight ago, preparatory to this story, noted that Ugbokolo, Amejo and Eke wards are home to some of the poorest, obviously abandoned and isolated communities in Benue State. In virtually all the communities traversed, there is clearly stamped on the environment systemic deprivation and poverty, such that any environmental devastation such as water poisoning or contamination can only aggravate in no time.
Most residents of Effoyo, Ichakwu and Ugbokolo townships, the three most cosmopolitan communities, with a combined population of between 150-200 thousand, all located along both old and new Otukpo-Enugu roads, about 30 or so kilometres from Otukpo, depend on water from dug wells for domestic usage and sachet water (pure water) or bottled water for those who could afford them, for drinking as there is totally no public water utility either there or anywhere in the local government.
Our correspondent gathered that the communities, who had for generations been served by Rivers Okoolo and Umabe have now resorted to buying pure water from Effoyo, Ichakwu and Ugbokolo Townships while those who could not afford pure water are forced to use water from the Dangote-poisoned rivers Okoolo and Umabe for cooking and drinking even knowing that they are endangering their lives.
Hon. Ameh said since the mining exploration began, the two rivers which used to be colourless, odourless and tasteless have become visibly contaminated with their usually clear water now dirtied deep orange and with dark particles suspected to have spilled from the mining site.
Government Visits
Hon. Onah
About five days after the submission of the petition to the Water Resources and Environment Commissioner, Hon. Ameh told National Record, the Benue State government delegated a “team of experts and technocrats” to visit the mining site and some of the communities affected by the exploration as well as the rivers.
“They came, we took them round to some of the polluted rivers in Amejo and of course we got to Ugbokolo where Umabe’s source came from. We have pictorial evidence and documentary evidence to that effect.
“Now having done that, they went back to do their report. Before they left, we interfaced with the management of Dangote. We went to the exploration site. They have makeshift container/cabin offices at the exploration site, with complements of security and all that,” Hon. Emmanuel said, adding that the team from Makurdi was accompanied by representatives from Amejo and Ugbokolo wards but no representation from Eke ward because as at that point, it was not known that the pollution also affected it.
A telephone interview with Hon. Solomon Onah, General Manager of BENSESA, who was part of the team of experts, further corroborated Hon. Ameh’s claims and provided further insight on the pollution.
Hon. Solomon Onah told National Record that following the petition, the Commissioner delegated a team comprising the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources and Environment, the Director of Environment in the Ministry, representatives from National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESRIA), representatives of Federal Ministry of Water Resources (from its state’s office in Makurdi), and BENSESA.
“The team went and had interaction with the communities before going to site. At Amejo, we selected one site to assess River Umabe, at Otobi. It was discovered that the water changed colour that time. Then, we also went to Effa in Ugbokolo and went to River Okoolo, which actually changed colour drastically. We were told that River Okoolo flows into River Umabe which passes through several communities. What we noticed and were told that what happened to the water has never happened before in the past.
“Thereafter, we went to interface with Dangote at the mining site in Effeche and we confronted them with the problem.
“They didn’t deny knowledge of the water situation. They said already, people from the community [Effeche-Akpali] had complained to them. They also said delegation from Ugbokolo and Amejo came to them with similar complaints that the water changed colour with some black particles.
“So what they [Dangote] said that time was that they were going to control it and that they were already making efforts to control it.
“We [the team] noticed that the water situation was actually as a result of the mining activities. We noticed that Effeche Community where the mining is taking place is on a hill and while there, you will clearly see that Ugbokolo and Amejo are on the valley.
“We advised that in the interim; while efforts are going on to control it, because the geologist on site, an Indian, said they are creating a barricade that will prevent the surface water from flowing into Okoolo and Umabe rivers.
“We advised that they should provide alternative source of water for the people in the interim while efforts are going on to control it. They agreed that they are going to do boreholes but that they will do it when this lockdown is eased;” Hon. Onah stated, although he however did not say if the team asked the company the source of water it expects the communities to depend on during the lockdown or why the lockdown did not affect its mining operation.
Asked if the team enquired about the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that is a mandatory condition for licence to engage in mining exploration, Hon Onah said though BENSESA was not aware of such assessment, but that the Director from the State Ministry of Water Resources and Environment told the team that the EIA was done by the Federal Ministry of Environment in conjunction with Federal Ministry of Mines.
“Yes, they said it was done but that is not to the knowledge of my agency but the Director from the Ministry of Water Resources and Environment said the EIA was done by the Federal Ministry of Environment in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Mines. They said it was actually done; and they took cognisance of the fact that in such exploration areas, such havoc might occur.
“So according to them, the EIA was done but what they agreed, because we didn’t just go alone, because we went with people from Amejo Community that day and then Ugbokolo Community; leaders from Amejo Community, home branch and then also from Ugbokolo community; and they said well, in the interim, while they are trying to control the havoc being cause by the mining activity, they will drill boreholes.
“We advised that the company they should use to drill the boreholes should be experts and they agreed because we said those are the only sources of water and our people have no other source of potable water,” Hon. Onah said.
When asked that since the team did not have access to the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which normally contains findings from an EIA, how could they have known if the underground water is also not already poisoned by the mining activity to have also rendered boreholes to be drilled compromised; Hon. Onah however revealed that Dangote Group itself has not admitted that it is their activity that has polluted the rivers.
He said: “As a matter of fact, they didn’t even own up completely that the havoc is caused by what they are doing there. According to them, they had put in place a lot of control measures, but I personally disagreed with them because I told them that apart from the surface water, the underground water could equally have been contaminated.
“What they have not done is what they promised to do and according to them, they would have done it immediately but that it is the lockdown that has caused the delay. They said in any community that their mining activity has caused contamination, they will drill a borehole. So that was our agreement with them that day.”
The BENSESA boss said the team took samples of water from the rivers but that the results of the test expected to be carried out on them are not yet ready.
What Dangote told Government Team
According to Hon. Ameh, it was in the course of the visit that Dangote revealed that Eke ward is also affected by the pollution. The company, he said, revealed to the team that it has an interim measure in place to supply water to the host communities of Effeche-Akpali and Effa and not the other communities downstream.
Open mining pit
“In the course of discussing with them, they [Dangote] mentioned Eke. They told us that the interim measures they have in place is to supply Effa and Effeche, the two immediate communities, as well as surrounding villages, with water through tankers. This however is not extended to Amejo.
“Dangote told them that the supply of water is part of the MoU with the immediate communities before they began the exploration, signed by community leaders. They also admitted that though they are supposed to drill boreholes in the communities around the mining area, the only interim measure is going to be through water tankers.
“They said when Covid-19 subsides; they will begin the drilling of boreholes as their headquarters have said they cannot take any action now until after covid-19 and that they will implement all the agreements reached with the community. They said among other facilities captured in the agreement include the construction of primary schools, health centres, etc.,” Hon. Ameh stated. He however did not say Dangote’s opinion on the fate of a broad section of the population not being serviced by water tankers from the company.
According to Ameh, people in the communities were not conversant with the overall implications of the mining and as a result were nonchalant about the exploration. “Many of the community- and opinion-leaders did not see the mining exploration as a serious matter. Even the MoU that Dangote claimed they reached with the communities is not enough.
“They (Dangote) just said they will drill boreholes across communities; and it will interest you to know that except the people begin to react about their current predicament in the face of the exploration activities, Dangote may not do anything;” Ameh said as he added that there is speculation that Dangote had bought many in the immediate communities.
“We even learnt that some of them signed some documents; he said revealing that there is an ongoing plan by some groups, community leaders and politicians to sue Dangote Group for the havoc it has caused to Edumoga District’s two major rivers.
City of Otukpo, others in Danger Too
Senator Moro
Enquiries by National Record also reveal that it is not only the lives of immediate inhabitants of Ugbokolo, Amejo and Eke wards that are endangered by the pollution orchestrated by Dangote’s mining exploration.
Hundreds of thousands, if not over a million people, whose main source of water is from River Okpokwu that has River Umabe as a major tributary. Apart from Ochobo Community and other fairly large settlements in Ohimini and Otukpo local government areas, the entire population of the City of Otukpo depends largely on water from the now poisoned River Okpokwu from which government’s only public water source in Idomaland, the Otobi Water Works, draws water.
The Otobi Water Works, which had served the traditional headquarters of Idoma nation since independence, National Record gathered, has been inoperative for decades. While the administration of former Governor Suswam was said to have made attempts to rehabilitate it sometime in 2008, the effort failed as the contractors are said to have abandoned it midway.
Now, majority of Otukpo residents depend on supplies by tankers who majorly sourced their water from the now poisoned River Okpokwu either at the site of Otobi Water Works or along Okete-Eke, a key commercial stop along Otukpo-Enugu expressway.
Representatives Mute, Dangote Group Too
Hon. Tony Agom
Calls to Senator Moro for his views on the matter did not go through. A whatsapp message sent to him on last Wednesday was not responded to as at the time of going to press.
Similarly, Hon. Francis Ottah, member representing Ado-Okpokwu-Ogbadibo federal constituency at the House of Representatives, failed to respond to enquiries sent to his whatsapp after he had picked a call to him and requested this reporter to send his and his medium’s details to him, which was done.
Honourable Agom, member representing Okpokwu state constituency, when called said though he was bereaved and at that point attending to the burial of his niece, subsequent enquiries went unanswered.
Dangote Group also failed to respond to a letter of inquiry dispatched to it two weeks ago, and a follow-up reminder sent to it last week.
Dangers Associated with Coal Mining
The now poisoned River Umabe
While majority of the inhabitants of the communities now endangered by Dangote’s mining exploration may be facing stark new realities for the first time in their lives as they face being barred from drinking from the only source of water they and generations gone by have solely depended on, they are perhaps yet to be fully aware of the full import of the dangers facing them.
People and authorities with informed knowledge of water resources or the dangers posed by especially mining activities, and the negative health effects on those who use them, say scientific research has proven that coal or generally mineral exploration contaminates both surface and underground water with chemicals which pose serious health challenges among which are cancer, intestinal and heart diseases in inhabitants of mining communities.
Another portion of River Umabe
Union of Concerned Scientists, in a 2017 publication, stated that “virtually every stage of coal’s lifecycle – from mining to processing to burning – can impact local water supplies, sometimes with devastating effect.”
The Union of Concerned Scientists argues that: “The fundamental issue involves contamination of nearby rivers, lakes, and aquifers by what comes out of a coal mine – usually highly acidic water containing heavy metals like arsenic, copper, and lead. The process is known as acid mine drainage. It happens when certain substances (typically iron sulfide, FeS2, or fool’s gold) is oxidized after being exposed to air and water. Runoff can change the pH of nearby streams to the same level as vinegar.”
Strip mining, as is currently being done by Dangote Group in Effeche-Akpali, is categorically declared as very dangerous, says The Strip Mining Handbook.
“All mining operations,” says Professor Mark Squillace, the author of the handbook; “have a disruptive effect on the environment, but the sheer volume of material involved in strip mining makes the impact on the environment especially acute. Surface mining (another name for “strip mining”) can severely erode the soil or reduce its fertility; pollute waters or drain underground water reserves; scar or altar [sic] the landscape; damage roads, homes, and other structures; and destroy wildlife. The dust and particles from mining roads, stockpiles, and lands disturbed by mining are a significant source of air pollution…
Uploading of coal from mining site to factory
“Irresponsible strip mining can pollute streams and disrupt water supplies… Sometimes water pollution is easy to spot. Clear water often turns reddish-orange if it contains a high concentration of iron. However, other types of pollution are harder to detect. A highly acidic stream may look no different than a clean one unless you notice that it has no fish in it.”
For the Safe Drinking Water Foundation (SDWF), the negative impacts of coal mining on water remain significantly high in spite recent improvements to mining practices. “Negative impacts can vary from the sedimentation caused by poorly built roads during exploration through to the sediment, and disturbance of water during mine construction.
Mining pit, a major source from which rivers are poisoned.
“Water pollution from mine waste rock and tailings may need to be managed for decades, if not centuries, after closure. These impacts depend on a variety of factors, such as the sensitivity of local terrain, the composition of minerals being mined, the type of technology employed, the skill, knowledge and environmental commitment of the company, and finally, our ability to monitor and enforce compliance with environmental regulations,” Said the SDWF.
