Reps Push for Mining Commission to Safeguard Host Communities’ Rights

The House of Representatives has intensified efforts to establish a commission that will protect the rights of mining host communities and ensure they benefit directly from Nigeria’s vast solid mineral resources.

The bill, sponsored by Hon. Sunday Dekeri, scaled second reading in July 2024 and was the subject of a public hearing organised on Thursday by the Committee on Solid Minerals Development.

At the hearing, community leaders hailed the initiative as long overdue, stressing that host communities had endured decades of neglect despite bearing the environmental and social costs of mining. “Host communities are left in poverty and environmental ruin despite being the source of immense wealth,” said Redzie Jugo of the Federation of Nigerian Mining Host Communities, who urged lawmakers to guarantee fair representation and reinvestment of mineral wealth in affected areas.

However, some industry operators expressed reservations. Dangote Industries mining consultant, Teslim Jimoh, warned that provisions such as mandatory equity ownership and profit-sharing could deter investors and clash with the existing Minerals and Mining Act, which vests ownership of mineral resources in the federal government. He suggested instead that government focus on stricter enforcement of community development agreements already required by law.

Committee Chairperson, Hon. Gaza Gbefwi, reassured that lawmakers would balance the interests of investors with the welfare of host communities. He noted that weak enforcement of agreements had worsened poverty in mining areas, likening the situation to the Niger Delta, where decades of neglect fueled agitation and conflict.

Gbefwi pledged that the committee would work with the Ministry of Solid Minerals and stakeholders to harmonise the bill with existing laws, stressing that the House would not pass legislation that discourages investment but would also not allow host communities to remain impoverished amid abundant mineral wealth.