Background

Ebonyi State is one of the five states in the South East geo-political zone of the country. The state is referred to as the ‘Salt of the Nation’ because of the large deposit of salt in the area.

The state, which comprises 13 local government areas, is endowed with so many other mineral deposits. For instance, the state has a huge deposit of iron ore in Ugwulangwu Ohaozara Local Government Area and Okofia in Ezza South LGA respectively.

Some of the other mineral deposits found in abundance include zinc and limestone while several quarry deposits are located in Amasiri, Akpoha, Ishiagu, Ezillo, Okpoto and Iboko communities. Salt is found in huge deposits in Okposi, Enyigba in Izzi and Ikwuato Idembia in Ezza South LGAs respectively. It can also be found in locations such as Ishiagu in Ivo LGA among other councils of the state.

Besides large granite deposits and lead are found in Ameka (Ezza South), Uburu and Okposi in Ohaozara LGA. During the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970), the entire South East region depended on Ebonyi’s salt for consumption by the people.

The premier Nigercem Cement Company Limited that served the entire country many years ago is located at Nkalagu in Ishielu Local Government Area of the state because of the presence of large deposits of limestone. Other communities where limestone is located include Okpoto, Ntezi, Inyaba and Ezzagu axis.

Benefits

In an interview, the Commissioner for Solid Minerals, Mr Emmanuel Chidi Onyia, regretted that the state government has not benefited much from these minerals as expected because of the policies of the Federal Government. Onyia explained that solid mineral exploration is on the Exclusive List of the federation making it difficult for the state government to have direct control.

Given this constraint, he said that the focus of the new administration is to ensure that the exploration of these mineral resources inherent in the state are mined for the benefit of the host communities and even the state in the long run.

According to him: “The Ebonyi State Government’s interest is not on what the state is generating as revenue, our interest is on the benefits of the communities where these minerals are domiciled. “As a state government, we are moving away from what we as a state should be benefiting, our interest at the moment is the benefit of the host communities.”

Call on quarry operators He also decried the fact that most of the quarry owners, who explore the minerals in the state, are not adding value to the communities. Their interest, he said, is in mining along and carting away the resources while the communities are poorer for it.

He lamented especially the deplorable state of the roads of most of the communities, as the operators fail to provide access roads to the host communities. “In most cases, there are provisions for scholarships and bursary awards, I have called the companies to submit the list of students who have benefited from these schemes,” he disclosed.

Going forward, he said it is not going to be business as usual as he read the riot act to them, saying: “If any company fails to submit the list, we will have no other option than to close your sites. “The quarry owners must adhere to government fixed prices and give rebates to residents of Ebonyi and host communities,” he said.

Challenges

Onyia insisted that it was not proper for the Federal Government to be concerned only with the revenue that the miners and investors pay to them but rather should have a holistic approach to it especially with regard to accruing benefits to the host communities. “After issuing these licenses, there are no checks, in Ebonyi State here you can attest to the level of degradation by these miners.

“We have been calling on the Federal Government not to have a repeat of what is happening in the Niger Delta region; in most of the areas we have solid minerals. “We need to have a table discussion where both the federal and state government should re-negotiate on how these minerals should be harnessed,” he said.

Community development

To this end, he called for a community development agreement that would guide the operations of the miners, noting that such agreement or policy by the Federal Government should stipulate for instance that where there are houses near the mining sites, there are distances that must be kept.

He explained: “If there are houses near the mining areas, you have to relocate these houses to a safer place; we discovered that most of these miners do not care at all.”

Following this state of affairs, he disclosed: “State government has taken over the preparation of the agreement, after it is drafted; there must be a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).”

He also revealed that the Ebonyi State Government has a subsisting law that stipulates that before any mining operation commences in any part of the state, the miner must notify and get consent from the state government.

According to the Commissioner: “The state government will then give approval for the mining firm to engage the host community, but if you go directly to engage the community, it becomes an affront on the state.

“Some investors are not finding it funny getting consent from host communities because of the activities of earlier investors who were there before now. “They come in and get this consent in dubious forms; if you give consent to any company automatically you have vacated that area. The company goes to Abuja to process all their registration and then the mineral becomes theirs.”

The Commissioner for Solid Minerals also expressed regret that most of the licensed miners do not have the interest of the state at heart. He stated: “Before you venture into mining, you will go to Abuja to get a license, most of the licenses are not given to people who have the interest of the state at heart.

“It is more of people who come into the state for business, secure most of these licenses and releases, waiting for investors who they will sell the licenses to.” The commissioner further stated that the measure is a big way of ripping off the communities in particular and the state in general.

Boosting IGR Speaking against the backdrop of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) profile in terms of solid minerals, the Commissioner said that the state government has not actually benefited enough. According to him: “Ebonyi State Government has not actually benefited from these minerals as they ought to because of the policies of the Federal Government.

The solid minerals sector is supposed to be generating huge revenue to the government, but what we are benefiting presently is peanuts.” The interest of the state government, he noted, is on what the host communities would benefit, not necessarily on the revenue to the state government.

This is as he explained: “As a miner if you have a license to mine at any particular place, automatically the land owners are no longer your land owners, and it is now the Federal Government. “At times you discover that there are houses surrounding these mining pits, undermining the health of the people. A situation where miners get these minerals and proceed to other cities for packaging is unacceptable.

“The miners deny the state government the benefit of being the host state, but when these minerals are processed in Ebonyi, proper separation will be done. “Besides, we are having activities of local miners in the state where most of them appear to be faceless.

If you go to many communities, you will see many abandoned pits at the expense of other people in the area, most of the abandoned pits are people from the community.” Onyia advised leaders of mining host communities to furnish the government with the names of owners of every pit in their locality.

Reforms

The commissioner proposed that all minerals obtained in Ebonyi State must be packaged and processed in the state. “In as much mineral exploration is in the Exclusive List, the miners should be aware that the land belongs to the state government, anyone that is not prepared to do the bidding of the state government can vacate,” he said.

“Miners would henceforth respect the provisions contained in the Community Development Agreements,” noted Onyia. He further said that the only way to recognise the people, who have the land, is through Community Development Agreement.

“Government will ensure that most of the items contained in the agreements are respected, in some there are provisions for health centres, none of the miners in the state fulfil this agreement,” he lamented. Speaking further he explained: “The government has a plan of activating the Buying Centres to ascertain what and what to be taken out.”

The commissioner warned that most of the companies whose agreements have expired the state government have taken over the negotiations and preparations of the agreement.

He disclosed also: “After drafting the agreements with any of the companies, there must be a Memorandum of Understanding with the host communities. “Any default in the implementation of the agreement, the government would shut down the mining sites.

The MoU must be functional where there would be an undertaking that the company must execute the contents of the agreement. “Some of them whose agreements are still with the government have been having a series of meetings with them; the government has issued a timeline for the completion of the agreement.”