The West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) has tasked the Federal Government to support the organisation by ensuring that the onshore Right of Way is delineated on all documents of licensing for sand mining in the country.
This, the organisation said, will help curtail the unregulated sand mining activities carried out on areas across the country with gas pipeline facilities.
Koffi Mensah, external relations manager, WAPCo, made the call during the organisation’s annual workshop on sand mining with stakeholders in the sector to discuss the devastating effects of sand mining and its adverse effects.
Mensah argued that illegal sand mining has remained a huge threat to the integrity of the gas pipelines which cuts across four countries in the West Africa region -Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and Ghana.
According to him, the activities of these illegal sand miners pose serious environmental problems such as land degradation, loss of agricultural lands and, most importantly, fire disaster that could result from vandalisation of the gas pipeline buried deep into the grounds.
“We have over the years battled these illegal sand miners, informing them of the dangers because of the gas pipeline Right of Way (ROW), specifically around Ota, Igbesa and Pako beach in Lagos State,” he said.
He advised that as a matter of urgency, government agencies responsible for issuing mining licenses must ensure the Right of Way of gas pipelines are delineated on all documents of license for mining activities as well as the need for universal surveys for all the lands.
“If decisive actions are not taken now, the host communities risk a major disaster that could cut across borders. So, it’s important we work out a synergy between various relevant institutions, including traditional rulers on how to stem the tide before it’s too late,” Mensa added.
Speaking also at the event, Omosebi Mayowa, federal mines officer, Ministry of Mines &Steel development, explained that the ministry is working assiduously in ensuring that due process is followed when it comes to issuing sand mining licenses.
According to him, all stakeholders need to look inwards in finding solutions to the activities of these illegal miners, noting that traditional rulers have a key role to play because they are closer to the people.
“We are not totally exonerating our people. Some civil servants are also to blame because we have heard stories of them conniving with miners to circumvent the procedures, but I can assure you that the ministry of mines and steel is on top of the situation and will not hesitate to punish any of its people caught in such acts,” said Mayowa, who is representing Olamilekan Adegbite, Minister for Mines and Steel.
He urged WAPCo to provide geographical coordinates of its pipeline to the ministry to include in the cadastral database as done with bitumen in the country.
Speaking on behalf of other traditional rulers at the workshop, Oba Ogungbayi Akanni Wasiu, the Olu Owode Otta, argued that most often, traditional rulers are not consulted before mining licenses are issued to miners, and therefore they have little control over the activities of these miners.
He called on management of WAPCo as well as government agencies to involve traditional rulers because they are closer to the grassroots and could easily identify and monitor activities of the miners in their communities.
Josephine Okojie
