Causes of Fatal Mining Accidents on the Plateau

Illustration of mine collapse

Plateau State, Nigeria, is endowed with a variety of mineral resources, notably tin and columbite. Historically, the exploitation of these minerals attracted both local and international interests, shaping the cosmopolitan character of Jos, the state capital.

However, from the late 1970s, mining activities declined significantly due to a collapse in the global prices of tin and columbite, which were then the principal commercial minerals of value. In recent years, global advancements in science and technology have renewed demand for these minerals, alongside others that were previously discarded due to limited industrial application. This resurgence has reactivated artisanal and small-scale mining across Plateau State, providing a critical source of livelihood for large numbers of unemployed youths.

In much of the state, particularly in the northern zones, mineral deposits remain widely dispersed. Women, who often lack the capacity to sink shafts, typically engage in surface-level mining along water channels, where mineral concentrates settle after rainfall. Artisanal miners, in contrast, commonly dig shafts that extend between 50 and 70 feet in depth to access richer deposits, relying on rudimentary tools such as shovels, diggers, and improvised pulley systems.

Despite the economic opportunities mining presents, it is accompanied by severe occupational hazards. Fatal accidents are recurrent, often involving individuals motivated by poverty to supplement their income. For instance, reports indicate that even professionals, such as a primary school head teacher in December 2024, have lost their lives in mining pits while attempting to earn additional income for their families. Similarly, women and children have also been victims, highlighting the vulnerability of economically disadvantaged groups.

Several factors contribute to mining-related fatalities on the Plateau:

1. Mine collapses. After reaching the mineral “floor,” miners typically dig horizontal tunnels that may extend up to one hundred feet. The intervening walls are expected to serve as pillars to prevent collapse. However, when these pillars are weakened by excessive excavation—whether by miners seeking additional ore or children scavenging nearby—the structural integrity of the mine is compromised, leading to collapses that often trap or kill those underground.
2. Water inundation. Abandoned mines frequently accumulate water under high pressure. When active tunnels breach these water-filled shafts, sudden flooding occurs, overwhelming miners with little or no chance of escape due to the depth of the shafts and the ensuing confusion. Survival in such cases is minimal, as visibility and mobility underground are severely restricted.
3. Mechanical failures. Accidents also result from equipment malfunctions, particularly the snapping of steel cables used to lower or raise buckets of ore. Buckets carrying heavy loads may fall back into the pit, crushing miners, while cable failures during descent frequently cause severe injuries or fatalities.

The recovery of victims varies depending on the cause of the accident. Where flooding is involved, bodies can often be retrieved after pumping out water. In contrast, collapses that bury victims make recovery exceedingly difficult without the use of excavators, which require significant financial resources. In such circumstances, families often resort to conducting funeral rites at the site without retrieving the body.

Despite the high incidence of accidents, artisanal mining persists as an economic necessity. Temporary halts in mining following fatalities are typically symbolic gestures of respect rather than reconsiderations of the risks involved. Mining, in many cases, has served as a pathway out of poverty. For instance, women have been reported to earn as much as ₦130,000 within two days, while daring young men occasionally secure windfalls amounting to millions of naira. Consequently, a common refrain among Plateau residents underscores the indispensability of mining: “What would have become of us if there were no minerals in Plateau State

I am Bigger than Yakubu Lamai –Eskafini

Eskafini. Source: Eskafini's Library

Eskafini is a host of a radio show on Jay FM 101.9, Jos. He came to Jos from Kano, where he had already started secondary school at Federal Government College Kano. In Jos, he completed his secondary education at Federal Government College, after a one-year stint at St. Joseph College Vom. These schools, he agrees, shaped the colouration of his life, as is often the case. 

Two songs blew Elkafini’s mind, making him feel the power of music for the first time. He was raised in a home with a strong music culture. His mum was a music teacher and often rehearsed for stage plays. One day, she played Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D Minor. This classical song together with Chaka Demus and Plier’s Murder She Wrote opened his mind to the vast beauty and influence of music. 

 

Eskafini, who has angling as a pastime and who has worked for Ray Power 100 FM Jos in the past, believes his show on radio, The Evolution of Legends, is a superior version to Yakubu Lamai’s Star Gazers, a show Lamai hosted on Peace FM 90.5 from the late 80s stretching to the mid 90s. It was a show that looked at the lives of music stars. After calling his bluff, Eskafini stood by his word, believing that the internet puts information about artists in the palm of his hands. There was no internet, back in the days of Lamai. The tons of radio stations we now have in Jos make the competition stiffer and put his show ahead, Eskafini says. 

 

The claims that Evolution of Legends is an advanced version of Star Gazers sounded hysterical sort of, but then I decided to listen to the Evolution of Legends, which comes every Sunday evening by 9 PM. I found something worth talking about. They are tons of info about the artists and their music. They are so microscopic, detailed and vast that someone is pushed to ask how much time and patience is spent burrowing into them. From this, I could see that, when it comes to the info, Eskafini is a monster. 

 

There used to be a barbing saloon along Tafawa Balewa Street in Jos. It was Nature’s Cut. Elkafini barbed there. With time, he became drawn to it, attracted by a mountain of music magazines the barber collected. He loved the magazines because they gave him what he wanted –the stories about music artists and their works. From this, one understands Eskafini has an inborn impulse for everything about music artists, so that each time there is a new artist, he is –first of all– asking for where and when the artist was born, his early life, his hurdles and how he overcame them, his girlfriend, how he met her... When something becomes a constant part of you, it feels like blood in your veins. Thus, you do it with the ease that leaves people asking how considering its seeming difficulty.

 

Painting a portrait of Yakubu Lamai with words, one will say that he is a dark, slim handsome man who loves to dress in formal suits every time. He speaks beautiful accent-free English and was often the host of beauty contests back in the decades when he was among the men and women who shaped conversations regarding pop culture in the city. His music shows played ballads from artists like Peabo Bryson, Luther Vandross, Anita Baker, Tevin Campbell and others in their rank. 

 

On the other hand, Eskafini, who still believes that Lamai also inspired him, is well known. Just that the scale of his popularity is slightly below that of Lamai. Time, not a weakness makes it so. This is the time of the internet, when most fans gravitate to YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music and other music-streaming channels, rather than radio. Aside from this, Hip Hop and R&B, which form the seal of Elkafini’s show, have been shoved aside by the global rise of Afrobeats. He, however, plans to launch his website on April 18th, the birthday of his mum, albeit posthumously. The website and affiliated Social Media handles will feature podcasts of his radio shows.

 

Christians Return Looted Items in Jos

 

#Endsars Looting.

Ezekiel Dachomo is a famous man of God across the northern region of Nigeria, where he is reputed to be fearless and fascinating preacher, a “reincarnation” of Late Evangelist Paul Gindiri.

When #ENSARS protest spun out of control towards the end of 2020, embittered rioters turned their attention to public warehouses across the country. In Jos, Plateau State, it wasn’t different. People flocked out in thousands to the different warehouses across the state, carting away grains, fertilizers/agricultural inputs like water pumps, generators and knapsacks. There were also relief materials that included building materials like cement, roofing sheets, nails, woods. The looters, not satisfied, moved on to dismantling office buildings, pulling off doors, windows, roofing sheets, office equipment like computers and stereo sets.

Such a moment provided an opportunity for the real Christians to be separated from the dredges. The real Christians stayed at home, while the modern-day Pharisees joined hoodlums so that the two sides found a common ground. As the saying goes, birds of the same feathers flock together.

A few weeks later, Ezekiel Dachomo held a crusade at Zang Secondary Commercial School playground. The football and basketball pitches of the famous school overflowed with crusaders that had come to listen to the evangelist. The man of God preached fiercely against the ambiguity between the Christians and the heathen, which played out during the looting. He noted that anyone that claims to be a Christian shouldn’t have been seen at any of those warehouses, making it clear that it was stealing, which isn’t expected of a Christian.

In the end, thousands who had taken part in the lootings asked to be forgiven. Many returned what they had taken out of the warehouses. Others, who had used the items promised to buy and return them.

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHLytIFGNddajPEnt2Ry_Xg

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