Last year the Nigerian government announced that it would no longer tolerate rampant illegal mining and would begin enforcement actions to crack down on the practice. To make sure that everyone knew how serious they were, the Federal Government set up special courts just to prosecute illegal mining cases and then the states deployed heavily armed patrols to go into remote areas to apprehend offenders.
Dozens of Chinese nationals were arrested in a number of raids this spring, mostly in southwestern Osun state.
In addition to curtailing illegal mining activities, the Federal Government is also going after Chinese companies that violate environmental regulations. Authorities took action against the Hongao Mining Company that ran a gold mine near the capital Abuja for polluting the local water table.
Officials were tipped off to Hongao’s misdeeds from an investigative report produced by Chinedu Asadu, a journalist at the Nigerian online news site The Cable. Chinedu joins Eric & Cobus to discuss the Hongao case and the government’s broader efforts to rein in illegal Chinese gold mining.
Show Notes:
- The Cable: FG indicts Chinese mining company for water pollution in FCT by Chinedu Asadu
- The Cable: FG delegation visits FCT community, assesses damage by Chinese company by Chinedu Asadu
- The Cable: FG probes Chinese company after report on contaminated water supply in FCT by Chinedu Asadu
About Chinedu Asadu:
Chinedu Asadu is a Lagos-based digital journalist for the online news site The Cable. Chinedu reports extensively on Nigerian politics, economy and environmental issues including a multipart series in 2020 on violations committed by the Chinese mining company Hongao. Chinedu also started in January 2020 to mine data on reported killings involving Nigeria police officers. Chinedu is a graduate of the University of Nigeria in Nsukka with a degree in mass communication.
