Miners at the Owukpa coal mine in Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State have abandoned the mine.
KemiFilaniNews gathered that the coal miners bowed to pressure to quit mining after series of protests by women in the naturally endowed Idoma community for them to provide social amenities for the community as part of their cooperate social responsibility or stop operation.
It would be recalled that in March, over 200 Owukpa women staged a peaceful demonstration over the failure of miners to meet up with the Community social responsibilities, like relocation of the Owukpa Community School, construction of the Ipole-Ukwo road, digging of over 45 boreholes in all settlements, good hospitals, among others.
The miners agreed to the terms of the protesting women to begin the construction of the Ipole-Ukwo that was supposed to have been constructed since 2007 if not for the failure of the miners to keep to the agreement they entered with the community. But again, the miners reneged on the new agreement entered with the protesting women in March which led to a fresh protest by the women asking them to leave.
Recently, the miners suspended operations at the coal mine.
Some of the women who spoke to journalists lamented that the community has been neglected for years: “We have no motorable road, we have no light, we don’t have potable water, no medical facilities, we have no schools.
“Stop the mining of our only gift from God since the government has forgotten us and has refused to give us basic infrastructures”.