Residents of two communities in Ijesa land, Ikimo and Ijana have cried out to the government to urgently intervene, halt and save them from environmental degradation.
The environmental degradation, they lamented, is due to the continued illegal mining activities in the localities.
Leading the call, the Onikimo of Ikimo Ijesa, Oba Ojo Babatunde Peter while narrating the ordeal that the affected communities stated that the impact of the devastation of the illegal mining activities had started to hit home.
Oba Ojo explained that with the completion of mining activities, the dug pits needed to be covered up again but the miners always left them uncovered and exposed.
"Mining activity was done on a license (a land already approved for mining by the government) located on the major road linking Idoka, Ikimo, and Ijana, which left a deep pit that has made it difficult for commuters to use the road.
"In late 2020 up to early 2021, mining activity was done on the major road linking three communities together. When they finished, they didn’t cover the pit that was dug. Since then, that road has been bad. Vehicles can not ply the road. People cannot take that route to the farm and it has been extremely horrible for farmers to continue their work, thereby hampering their source of livelihood.
“To our surprise, another company using the approved license of Sandplex International is currently operating under the same license to mine gold. If that gold mining should continue, it would be of extreme danger to the community,” he added.
Lamenting that the mining site is already beneath a power line, he added that the volatility level of the area has also compounded the situation to the Mining Cadastral Office in Osogbo which promoted an environmental officer to inspect the mine.
0 Comment(s)
SPONSORED
HEADLINE
TRENDING