The Cross River State House of Assembly has called on the National Assembly to amend Nigeria’s mining laws to prioritise the interests of host communities and resource-producing states.
Moving a motion during plenary on Wednesday in Calabar, Egbe Abeng, representing Obubra 1 State Constituency, said the issue required urgent attention.
Presenting the motion, Abeng described the situation in Obubra as a public health emergency, stressing that the destruction of water sources by illegal miners had exposed the communities to potential disease outbreaks.
He also noted that the water board station in Ofodua, which previously supplied potable water, was non-functional and in urgent need of rehabilitation.
“Our people are suffering. Illegal mining has not only stolen their resources but also destroyed their right to clean water.
“The federal mining law must be reviewed to reflect the needs of the people living in these affected communities,” Abeng stated.
The lawmakers expressed concern over the growing environmental degradation and humanitarian crisis in parts of the Obubra Local Government Area.
In the council, illegal gold mining had destroyed the only source of water serving five major communities of Ababene, Ovokwa, Onyadema, Ofat, and Ofodua.
The House resolved to send a delegation, led by the Speaker, Elvert Ayambem, to the National Assembly, to formally present the resolution to the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas.
The motion was unanimously supported by all members of the Assembly.
The lawmakers called on the state government, through the Ministry of Water Resources and the State Water Board, to urgently restore the potable water supply to the affected communities.
They also called for the rehabilitation of the Ofodua water board station.
The Speaker, Ayambem, stressed that the current mining laws concentrated benefits at the federal level, leaving host communities and their states in poverty and neglect.
“We are calling on the National Assembly to amend or repeal these unjust mining laws.
“Host communities and states like Cross River, which have contributed immensely to national development, must not be left behind.
“Mining should be a driver of development, not devastation,” the Speaker said.
