*Itasa mining site
An Oyo State based mining firm, Architype Industries Ltd has called on the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake to intervene in a simmering dispute between it and the host community of Itasa, Iwajowa LGA of Oyo State.
The disagreement over the review of the Community Development Agreement (CDA) between both parties has led to invasion of the company’s site by locals as well as a stop work order by the Oyo State Government.
Residents of Itasa, a community in Iwajowa Local Council of the Oke-Ogun axis of Oyo State, have called on the Federal Government to order Architype Industries (Nig) Ltd to vacate their land.
A community protest
*Protesting Itasa residents
They accused the company of operating illegally, failing to conduct a valid Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and entering into mining operations without a valid Community Development Agreement (CDA).
However, the site manager of Architype Industries, Abiodun Ogunbiyide, insisted that the company had met the necessary requirements.
“We have a valid mining licence, community consent and a title to operate here,” he said.
An indigene of the town, Prof Bayo Aborisade, said the mining operations had empowered individuals who now intimidate and harass locals.
“They are extracting minerals from our land and empowering individuals who threaten the community. They have disrupted the land and created settlements, posing a threat to our community. We demand the removal of this mining company from our land,” he said.
Chairman of Itasa Community Development Association, Alhaji Banji Isiaka Odedele, youth leader Mr Jelili Ogunlade, and Julius Farounbi, lamented that insecurity caused by the mining activities had prevented residents from farming.
Another community member and lawyer, Femi Aborisade, insisted the firm had failed to meet statutory conditions.
“Architype Industries (Nig.) Ltd. is conducting illegal mining due to non-fulfilment of statutory conditions. The company has not conducted an EIA or reached a valid Community Development Agreement with the community,” he said.
Also speaking, the Onitile of Itasa, Oba Michael Sijuola Oyediran, said: “We want peace and we want them to do the right things for the town. If the company refuses to do the right thing for the community, it should vacate our land. But if it does the right thing, it should stay.”
Engr Adeniran Ajibade, MD/CEO of Architype, however told TheMiners that the whole crisis was fomented by new entrants who wanted to hijack the CDA review process for their personal benefits.
He said the disruption of the hitherto smooth relationship between the company and the community by a few prominent individuals led to his decision to seek the intervention of the Minister of Solid Minerals Development in the matter.
Seeking intervention of the MSMD
*Engr Ajibade, MD of Architype
In its letter to the Minister of Solid Minerals, Architype raised the disruptive roles being played by some prominent members of the community to frustrate the review of the CDA evn though an earlier one had been implemented.
The letter reads:
The Honorable Minister,
Ministry of Solid Minerals Development,
No 2,Luanda Crescent,
Off Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent
Wuse 2,
Abuja,
Dear Sir,
Declaration of Dispute on the Review of the Community Development
Agreement (CDA) Between Architype Industries Nig. Ltd and the Itasa Community, Iwajowa LGA of Oyo State.
We wish to formally declare a dispute with the Itasa Community in our efforts towards reviewing the Community Development Agreement for our Gemstones, Metallic and Non-Metallic Mining Project on Itasa land.
The kind intervention of the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development is required for our company and the Itasa Community to make progress and expeditiously complete the preparation and submission of the CDA for ministerial approval.
All our efforts for a timely preparation of the CDA in line with the Department of Mines Environment Compliance’s Guidelines for Production of CDA have been frustrated by a few misguided but dominant members of the community that have been adversarial and undermining the good relationship we have built with the King, the Chiefs and the overwhelming majority of the good and peace loving people of Itasa Community.
Our mining operations in Itasa land are being conducted under extant mining titles 18708SSML and 18709SSML and we have been operating peacefully and in harmony with the host community.
We negotiated and signed a CDA on the 2″of November 2019 (attached)and have been surpassing the fulfillment of our obligations under the CDA.
The projects implemented in the CDA include the overhauling and grading of the Fifteen Kilometer (15km) Gbedu-Ohori Earth Road in 2019. The Itasa community place high priority on the road – being the access route for evacuating the huge farm produce from the community’s vast farmland. Prior to the year 2019, the road was in a decrepit state.
and its overhauling and grading was done at a huge cost to our small-scale fledgling company that was then at the exploration stage of the project.
*Maintaining the Gbedu-Ohori road again in the year 2022.
*Drilling two boreholes with installation of submersible pumps and construction of overhead stands and placement of water tanks, at the Community Health Centre and close to the Itasa Secondary School. The two boreholes have been well maintained and have been constant sources of water supply to the community.
Agitations of Itasa Youth and Stoppage of Our Mining Operation by the community Lawyer from August to November 2022
The harmonious relationship between our company and the community was however disrupted in August 2022 by the violent agitations of the youth who claimed that they were not being properly consulted and were not benefitting from the mining operations in the Community.
The youth on many occasions threatened the Itile Development Committee members, disrupted the Itasa Council of Chiefs meetings and insulted and disrespected their King, Oba Oyediran Micheal Sijuola Ajibi, the Onitile of Itasa land.
The threats, harassment and intimidation that could lead to a breach of peace in the normally peaceful community forced the Kabiyesi, the representatives of the Chiefs and members of the Itasa Development Committee to obey the summons of Barrister Femi Aborisade, an Itasa indigene and a Managing Partner of Abope Chambers, a law firm.
At the meeting, our company referred to the extant CDA and enumerated the projects that have been implemented up to the time, which surpassed the provisions in the CDA. It was unanimously observed that lack of proper communication with the youths might have caused the Agitations. The meeting agreed that there is a need for a review of the CDA and the Community advised its lawyer, Barrister Femi Aborisade to prepare a draft CDA.
Suspecting that the agitations could have ulterior motives, the company’s representative clarified at the meeting that the law does not permit the withdrawal of consent letter from a company that has invested huge resources on exploration work to discover and delineate economic mineral resources with the intention of issuing consent to a new company.
It was a rude shock when the Community Lawyer retorted that the company can be forced out by violent protests if it fails to dance to the tune of the community. Barrister Aborisade subsequently unlawfully ordered the stoppage of our company’s mining operations till the conclusion of the CDA.
He refused to take cognizance of the fact that under the Minerals and Mining Act 2007(MMA.2007), yhe community lacks the power to stop a legitimate mining operation as it would be tantamount to a contravention of Section 138 of MMA 2007.
He was also not persuaded by the reasoning that the community that will be requesting for more projects in the reviewed CDA should not stop the mining operation that will generate the resources for the implementation of the projects.
To maintain peace with the community, we yielded to the persistent pleadings by the King and his Chiefs that the company should suspend mining operations for a month for the lawyer to prepare the draft CDA. The suspension of operations continued for 3 months without tlany progress report from the lawyer, hence we resumed mining operations against the insistence of the lawyer that we should perpetually wait on him to prepare the draft CDA.
During the three months hiatus, our company incured huge losses as the mine pits were flooded and some of them even collapsed. We were paying all our workers and fulfilling statutory obligations on our mineral titles. On resumption of mining, it took more than a month of hard work and colossal expenditures to return the mines to the pre-closure condition.
DRAFT COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT BY THE LAWYERS TO THE COMMUNITY
The Community took more than twenty-eight months to prepare the reviewed CDA. The lawyer had obdurately insisted in August 2022 that our mining operation should be unlawfully stopped pending the completion of the review process and it took the intervention of the Paramount ruler and his council of chiefs for us to resume operation three months after in November 2022.
We suffered huge losses during the three months illegal closure of the mine and would have incurred further incalculable damages that would have spelt doom for the entire mining project, had mining remained suspended from November 2022 to December 2024 when the lawyer eventually concluded work on the draft review. The community would also have missed the socio-economic benefits of the various developmental projects executed during the period.
The community’s draft Reviewed CDA has the following covenants for the mining company among numerous others as follows;
I. Payment of Unit-Based Royalty on the company’s Mineral Production
II.Annual Rent of N20 million whether or nor not there is production retroactively with effect from 2014
IV.The Community shall be entitled to a 30% share of the quantity of the mining company’s mineral production
V.The company shall grant Scholarships for at least 50 brilliant secondary students and provide educational materials to the beneficiaries of the Scholarship
VI.The company shall award Scholarships for 20 brilliant but indigent students at tertiary level of education locally and internationally
VII.Special Annual Scholarships and numerous empowerment schemes
VII.Employment of indigenes
IX. Reclaimation and restoration of the mined out area
X. Deposit of N5million Naira for Community based cooperative society
XI.Building, furnishing, equipping and maintaining 100/500 Capacity Hall/Recreation Centre, Skills Acquisition Centre, Library, ICT Hub etc
XI.Construction,Tarring and yearly maintenance of 59km Roads and rehabilitate 11km road
XIHI.Drill 5 borehole and construct overhead water tanks.
XIV.Provision of 18 passenger Capacity Bus with the name of the community on it.
XV.Provision of a Modern Shopping Complex to the Community
XVI.Provision of about 40 Solar Street Light for the Community
XVII. Furnishing (with 30 beds,12chairs/tables and 20 benches, equipping (with 10 wheelchairs and medical equipment and providing drugs for the Community Health Centre).
The covenants contained the draft CDA submitted by the Community’s lawyer was clearly never prepared in line with the MEC Guidelines and the requests for payment of unit-based royalty, sharing of 30% of company’s mineral production and N20million yearly surface rent among other requests are unrealistic and outrageous.
The covenants are not in tandem with the requests of the community, based on our company’s numerous meetings with them on the CDA.
Completed and ongoing Community Development Projects
Despite the interminable delay in delivering on the Draft reviewed CDA, our company continued to carry out Community Development Projects, an act that is a clear demonstration of our sincerity of purpose and firm commitment to the development of the Itasa community.
The projects are;
1)A sum of N3million Naira was paid into the Community Bank Account as against the N1million required in the CDA to be reviewed. In March 2022, Architype consented to a verbal request by the Kabiyesi and the Chiefs for an additional payment of N3million for the year 2022 towards the construction of the Community Health Centre. The Oba-in-Council expressed that priority should be given to the completion of the Community Health Centre which medical equipment, tools and moving equipment from the Iwajowa Local Government council.
2)The Fifteen Kilometer(15km)road from Gbedu to Aba Ohori was repaired and graded in the year 2019 and also early in the year 2022 using hired earth moving equipment from the Iwajowa Local Govemment Area. The project was supervised by the members of the Itasa Development Committee and our staffers. The road is said to be of strategic interest to the community because farmers operating on Itasa land evacuate their farm produce through that road for the community to collect their royalty and other benefits.
3)Two Boreholes were sunk in the community in April 2022, one at the Community Health Centre and the other in the town close to the Community High School with the installation of submersible pumps and erection of overhead water tanks completed.
4) Contribution to the roofing of the Itasa Community Health Centre and donation of 20 bags of cement in 2019 to support construction work.
5)Deposits of funds were made by the company as tabulated below, into the ITILE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION ITASA ACCOUNT NUMBER 2034974320 with First Bank of Nigeria to be used for the implementation of the CDA projects envisaged in the reviewed agreement.
We formed an Eight-man Committee comprising of 5 members of the community and three members of staff of our company to use the funds for execution of CDA projects. No meeting of the committee was ever called and our company is unaware of the status of the Twenty-seven (27) million Naira.
Proposed Community Development Agreement Projects by Architype Industries Nigeria Limited
After careful consideration of the demands of the Draft of the Reviewed Community Development Agreement by the Community, our company proposed the following projects for the community in the next phase of the implementation of CDA for the community.
1.The Company shall reclaim, rehabilitate and restore the excavated and explored land after exhaustion of its mining activities as provided for in the Acts and Regulations.
2.The Company shall give 40% consideration (for both skilled and unskilled) of available job vacancies for the Host Community youth in line with the provisions of Local Content Act provided they are eligible and qualified for the positions.
3. Annual maintenance of the 15km Gbedu-Ohori Village earth road on which the Community placed the highest priority being the route for evacuating huge farm produce.
4.The company shall annually maintain the Gbedu-Daba-Samia earth road of about 10km which leads to the mining site within the year 2025-2030.
5.The company shall establish a Itasa Community Women Cooperative Society with a grant of N5m to be operated as micro finance loans for Itasa women businesses.
6.Maintenance of the two existing boreholes and sinking of three additional water borehole, siting two in Itasa Town and another one borehole in Gbedu village close to the mining project area.
7.The company shall contribute towards the Installation, Completion and Commission of the community health center within the year 2025-2030.
8. Renovation of the the Itasa Secondary School and supply of educational materials to the student of the school
9. Our company shall join hands with the Iwajowa LGA,the Itasa community and other mining companies operating on Itasaland to ensure sustainable social, environmental and economic management of the community
10.Grant of Scholarship to five public secondary school students and two brilliant but indigent students in public higher institutions in Nigeria.
Completed Environmental and Social Impact Assessment
Our Itasa mining project has been duly registered with the Federal Ministry of Environment (FME) as the Gemstone, Metallic and Non-Metallic Mining Project in Itasa, Iwajowa LGA, Oyo State.
The Site Verification and Scoping Workshop were conducted by officials of the Federal Ministry of Environment (FME)as well as those of the State Ministry of Environment (SME) and the Mines Environment Compliance (MEC) Department of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.
A multidisciplinary team of EIA consultants caried out the Wet Season Environmental and Social Impact Data Gathering. Soil and water samples were collected over the entire project area and the samples were analyzed by a reputable laboratory approved by FME.
The FIA Consultants also conducted the Dry (Harmattan) Season for the comprehensive Dry Season data gathering between December 2022 and January 2023.
Samples collected during the dry season were analysed as done with the previous season’s samples. The ElA consultants then produced a comprehensive Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Report in February 2023. The copies of the report were publicly displayed by the FME for 3weeks at relevant locations for stakeholders, especially for the host community to review.
The collective review of the report by stakeholders before a panel of experts was carried out in Ibadan, the Capital of Oyo State where the project is located. All comments, observations and corrections made during the panel review were incorporated by the consultants to produce the Final ESIA report that was submitted to the Honorable Minister of Environment for approval.
NON-COOPERATION OF THE ITASA COMMUNITY IN THE PROCESS Of PREPARING A NEW COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT.
Due to the interminable delay by the Community lawyer in preparing the draft reviewed CDA, the Mines Environment Compliance Officer in charge of Oyo State, Mr A. Adeyemo arranged for the company and the community to hold a Commencement Meeting for the CDA in November 2024.
At the meeting, he took all stakeholders through the Guidelines for preparation of CDA that was introduced by the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development in November 2023. The meeting concluded on the note that the Negotiation Meeting would be held in early February 2025.
However, many concerted and consistent efforts by the Zonal Office of the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development in Ibadan to hold a negotiation meeting in the community was rebuffed by the lawyer.
The community lawyer Itasa, delivered nineteen(19) copies of reviewed CDA drafted by him and already signed by Seven(7) representatives of the community to our office in December 2024. He directed our company to sign all the copies of his draft, retain a copy and send back to him the remaining Eighteen Copies. Obviously he is oblivious of the Guidelines for the Production of CDA, a copy of which had been made available to the Chairman, Itasa Development Committee.
We refused to sign the document and sent the community a response stating the projects we can implement based on the company’s available resources. The lawyer then proceeded to draft a letter to our company for the signature of the Itasa King and the Chairman Itasa Development Committee, directing our company to stop our mining operations which he labelled as illegal.
The king, under immense pressure, signed the letter after much delay. Instead of engaging with our company to negotiate and work out the details of a new CDA under the supervision of the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Mr Femi Aborisade has been misguiding and misdirecting his community to protest and address press conferences where they have been spewing out lots of propaganda against our company.
Cease and desist petition to Oyo govt
Architype, in a letter sent by its lawyers, Olaniyi Okin and Co. to the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde on April 3, protested what it described as “the unlawful intrusion and issuance of a stop work order by Mr. Abiodun Oni, Director-General, Oyo State Mineral Development Agency, who is also the Special Adviser to the Oyo State Governor at Architype’s mining site located at ltasa in lwajowa Local Government Area of Oyo State on the 26 day of March, 2025.
In the petition, titled, RE: Unlawful Trespass and Stop Work Order at Architype Industries Nigeria Limited a Federally Licensed Mining Site at Itasa in Iwajowa Local Government Area of Oyo State, Architype also cautioned the governor that the state government has no legal right to stop the company’s mining work.
The petition reads:
We are solicitors to Architype Industries Nigeria Limited, a company registered under the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a duly licensed mining operator, with its registered office at 18, Oshin Road, New Bodija, Ibadan (hereinafter called “our client”).
We have our said client’s instruction to write this letter regarding the unlawful intrusion and issuance of a stop work order by Mr. Abiodun Oni, Director-General, Oyo State Mineral Development Agency, who is also the Special Adviser to the Oyo State Governor on Solid Minerals at our client’s mining site located at ltasa in lwajowa Local Government Area of Oyo State on the 26 day of March, 2025.
He was accompanied on the unlawful trip with a few police escorts, about 15 Amotekun operatives and some individuals who had no business with official government duties but were co-opted by the said officer for reasons best known to him. Their names would be revealed at the appropriate time.
They claimed to be acting on the instructions of the Governor of Oyo State!
They came to our client’s mining site without prior notice and with pressmen from the print and electronic media giving false narratives to malign our client and it’s management team.
They harassed our client’s members of staff and granted stage-managed interviews to the press falsely claiming that our client habour kidnappers,b andits and criminals.
To the contrary, our client’s mining operations have ensured the absence of kidnapping and banditry for long in the area and have also reduced crime rate to the barest minimum.
We wish to inform your excellency that our client holds a valid mining lease granted by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in accordance with the provisions of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”).
As you are aware, mining and related activities are exclusively within the legislative and regulatory purview of the Federal Govemment by virtue of ltem 39 of the Exclusive Legislative List under the Second Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999 (as amended).
By the combined provisions of Sections 1,3,and 44 of the said Act, all mineral resources in Nigeria,including those found within Oyo State,are vested in the Federal Government, which exercises full regulatory control over mining operations.
Further, the implications of Section 19 of the said Act is that only the Federal Minister of Mines and Steel Development has the authority to regulate and enforce compliance with mining laws,including the issuance of stop work orders.
Accordingly, no state or local government official or host community has the legal authority to interfere with or stop a lawfully licensed mining operation.
We wish to bring to your attention,the case of Attorney General of the Federation vs. Attorney General of Abia State &Ors.(2002)6 NWLR(Pt.764)542 where the Supreme Court of Nigeria affirmed that matters concerning mineral resources and mining fall exclusively under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government. Any interference by state authorities is therefore unconstitutional and unlawful.
In light of the foregoing, we demand that the Oyo State Govemment immediately withdraw the purported stop work order issued by the said Mr. Abiodun Oni purporting to be acting under the instruction of your humble self and cease any further interference in our client’s lawful mining operations.
Any future encroachment or obstruction by officers of the state government will be regarded as trespass and a violation of our client’s constitutional and statutory rights, which may necessitate legal action, including seeking judicial redress and damages.
We hope that the government of Oyo State will act within the bounds of the law and avoid any further disruption of our client’s operations so as to obviate the necessity for a court action and the inconveniences, expenses and negative publicity attendant upon litigation by complying with the above modest demand.
Accept the assurances of our professional regards.
Yours faithfully,
for. OLANIYI OKIN &Co.
O.A, OKIN ESQ.
Legal Practitioners/Notary Public
