Like most rural communities in Nigeria, Okobo probably only existed on the map until coal was discovered underneath its soil. Situated in Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State, Okobo is blessed with huge coal deposits and other mineral resources. CHIDI NWANCHWUKWU who visited the area reports that the community lacked basic amenities.Okobo community in Ankpa lcal government area of Kogi State shares boundary with Itobe, another impoverished community in Ofu LGA of the state, which is the proposed site for the Coal-fired Power Plant that is expected to produce 1,200 megawatts of electricity, to add to the 4,500 megawatts that is currently being generated in Nigeria. Upon the discovery of coal in the community in 2011, ETA Zuma company was given license by the federal government to extract the minerals. The coal is been transported in large trucks to the Coal-fired plant in Itobe for power generation. Okobo has a landmass of about 1200 square kilometers, and can be assessed through the Ankpa-Enjema road, from Lokoja.Prior to the commencement of the mining, a Community Development Agreement (CDA) was reached between the community and the company, and the pre-mining surveys such as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) were carried out, consequent upon which the deal was sealed. Part of the conditions in the agreement was that the company would help provide the community with certain social amenities including portable drinking water, roads, electricity, schools, and healthcare services.The people of the community celebrated the arrival of the company because they expected that the companys presence would trigger rapid development in their locality and bring to them the much talked-about civilization; and as the community teemed with unemployed youths, there were also great hopes that the company would engage the youths in its activities, so that they could be gainfully employed.On the part of the women, they looked forward to a boost in their petty trade as they hoped that workers on the mining site would patronize their farm produce and food items which hitherto were cheaply sold at the community markets.The people depended on their rivers and streams for water. But today, they have lost all their water sources as the companys activities have led to the pollution of all their water bodies. Surface mining, which is the type been carried out in Okobo, employs great use of water. Waste water from the mining pit find its way into the communitys stream and contaminate it. Water samples from the rivers were tested and found to contain harmful quantities of iron and other heavy metals (such as lead and zinc). The water acidity level has been found to be toxic to both human and aquatic life.The people lack water, prompting them to buy the popular sachet water commonly known as pure water from water vendors for drinking. The women and children are compelled to trek long distances to source for water for domestic use. Those who cannot trek the long distances usually queue up for long hours to get water from an overhead water tank at the only school provided by the mining company.The pollution that has ravaged the community is not limited to that of its water bodies alone. The air in Okobo has been found to contain a high amount of dust, owing to the excavation and transportation of mined coal within the environment. Surveys and tests have proved that the air in Okobo is saturated with coal dust which if inhaled over a certain period of time, can cause serious respiratory infections like asthma, bronchitis and black lung disease.And too, the people of the community have complained and are still complaining about the high decibels of noise that is been let out by mining activities. The vibrations caused by explosions, excavations and movements of heavy equipment on the mining site have resulted in the cracking of the walls of their weak houses and the collapsing of the only school building in the community, and as a result of which a child was killed.As regards healthcare, the Okobo community has only four public primary healthcare facilities which are grossly understaffed and ill-equipped. The people depend more on the private medical facilities within their locality, and pay exorbitant sums of money to access medication for some diseases like malaria, typhoid respiratory infections, urinary schistosomiasis, diarrhoea and food poisoning which are prevalent in their locality.There are no laboratories in the community where tests and check-ups can be performed; therefore, the treatment of patients is based on intelligent guesses. When immunization vaccines and drugs are brought to the community, they soon get compromised for lack of power supply. The highest number of workers in one of the best public healthcare facilities visited in Okobo is 10, including the nurses, auxiliary nurses, cleaners, and clinic assistants. No doctor was seen there. This handful of medical staff is responsible for attending to an average of 236 cases every month. To chronicle down the lapses in the delivery of primary and secondary healthcare services to the Okobo people is no mean feat because the lapses are legion. There seems not to be any single healthcare package that is adequate and fully functional in the community.It further gathered that major challenge that has beset the Okobo people for a long time now is the failure of both the federal and state governments to prevail upon the company to facilitate the communitys relocation to a safer settlement, since the activities of the company are inconveniencing them.In the course of setting up the mining site, members of the community were persuaded to relinquish ownership of their lands in exchange for certain benefits. Many of the land owners who were wooed with promises such as scholarships for the students of the community and a 10 percent employment quota, are now disgruntled and calling on all relevant authorities to come to their aid in getting back their lands.It was discovered that out of the teeming population of young people in Okobo, only 14 were offered jobs at the mining site, and these few persons were forbidden by the company from interacting too closely with their relatives.During a visit to the community, the elders claimed that a major bone of contention between the company and the community is that the terms and conditions for the acquisition of lands by the company were not properly explained to the people who are mostly farmers. Some members of the community are claiming that unknown persons entered into agreement with the company on their behalf, and that they never accepted some of the terms that were contained in the memorandum of understanding.The traditional ruler of Enjema, His Royal Highness, Onu Enjema (Adoga) said the inconveniences and nuisance that the mining has constituted to the community since commencement was enormous.Mr. Idris Ibrahim, the community youth leader who was attacked by hoodlums suspected to have been sent by the company, he was reported to have lost an eye from a gunshot injury during the attack.He alleged that the company is already in possession of the land, and has planted security guards around it, to ward off any intruder. The company staff are now harvesting the economic crops from the land, and are selling them to the people who happen to be the actual owners of the crops.Worried by the situation, the Global Rights, a non-governmental organization that advocates for the protection of the rights of rural dwellers (particularly the mining communities) and the less-privileged, has been in the vanguard of the fight for the compensation and resettlement of the Okobo and Itobe communities.Miss Tsema Okoye is the coordinator of the NGO. She said the organizations concern was because of the tortuous experiences that the people had undergone during the mining activities.
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