The National Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has donated N52 million to the families of 37 artisanal miners who died in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Niger State Command, and to those who sustained injury in the incident.
Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, disclosed this yesterday during a condolence visit by the APC National Working Committee (NWC) to Government House, Minna. Families of deceased suspects got N1 million each while the injured received N500,000 each.
The donation came amid appeals by civil society groups in the state to political parties and actors to avoid turning the miners’ death into partisan battle.
Yilwatda, who led the delegation, described the deaths as saddening and extended the party’s condolences to the government and people of Niger State and all Nigerians.
He commended President Bola Tinubu for setting up a committee to investigate the circumstances of the deaths, pledging the party’s continued support for Bago’s administration.
Bago thanked the party leadership, calling the visit a significant show of solidarity. He said the circumstances of the deaths remained a matter of serious concern, adding that the committees already set up were working to establish the facts. The delegation later visited the Emir’s palace to convey the party’s condolences.
The governor said a committee led by the Deputy Governor, working with the Emir of Minna, Alhaji Umaru Faruk Bahago, would disburse the funds.
The CSOs, in a joint position paper, described the deaths as an institutional tragedy that should be treated as a matter of justice, human rights and institutional reform. They asked political actors to allow the investigations to proceed without interference or premature media trials. The paper was issued by the Open Government Partnership Non-State Actors, Coalition of Civil Society, Resource Justice Network, Society for Peace Studies and Practice, and Open Alliance.
On the inquiry, the civil society groups asked political actors to urge their constituents to submit credible memoranda to the nine-member Judicial Commission of Inquiry inaugurated by the governor. They also asked that survivors, eyewitnesses and bereaved families be given the opportunity to testify on alleged overcrowding and poor ventilation at the NSCDC facility.
The coalition commended Bago for his handling of the crisis, including the declaration of three days of mourning. It urged vigilance to ensure that the findings of the Judicial Commission and the federal investigative committee lead to concrete reforms in detention facilities.
The groups also called on stakeholders to address the socioeconomic conditions that drive young people into unsafe and unregulated artisanal mining, saying force and partisan finger-pointing could not resolve the problem. They advocated safe, regulated and humane community-based solid mineral governance.
They said the deaths of the ‘Minna 37’ should become a catalyst for a more humane justice system and a safer Niger State, not a source of partisan division.