The Cross River State House of Assembly has called on the National Assembly to amend Nigeria’s mining laws to prioritize the interests of host communities and resource-producing states.
Moving a motion during plenary on Wednesday in Calabar, Hon. Egbe Abeng representing Obubra 1 State constituency, said that the issue requires urgent attention as it concerns the general public.
Presenting the motion, Hon. 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, is currently non-functional and in urgent need of rehabilitation.
‘Our people are suffering, Illegal mining has not only stolen their resources but 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 deep concern over the growing environmental degradation and humanitarian crisis in parts of the Obubra Local Government Area, where illegal gold mining has destroyed the only source of water serving five major communities Ababene, Ovokwa, Onyadema, Ofat, and Ofodua leaving residents with no choice but to rely on sachet water for cooking, bathing, and other basic needs.
The House resolved to send a delegation, led by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Elvert Ayambem, to the National Assembly, to formally present the resolution to the President of the Senate, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas and was unanimously supported by all members of the 10th Assembly.
The lawmakers called on the Cross River State Government, through the Ministry of Water Resources and the State Water Board, to urgently restore potable water supply to the affected communities and rehabilitate the Ofodua Water Board station. It also urged the state to investigate and address the environmental degradation caused by illegal mining operations.
In his remarks, Speaker Elvert Ayambem emphasized that the current mining laws concentrate 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.
He stressed that the new legal framework should give states a say in mining activities within their territories and ensure that host communities receive adequate compensation, infrastructural support, and environmental protection.
