Like Owu-Epe, Igun lacks a functional hospital, a secondary school, potable water, roads and other basic social amenities that make life worthwhile despite being blessed with so much gold. The people live in poverty, wuth daily survive. Many households survive on less than N500 a day. The bulk of that sum goes into providing water and food ingredients. To support their families, many women have taken to petty trading in Ilesa while the men sign up to menial jobs in nearby towns.
Peter Oluduro, another leader in the town told Saturday PUNCH that successive administrations at every level of governance have done nothing to address their sufferings. He said they have been left at the mercy of illegal miners who invade their land and steal their common wealth – gold.
“If our government were sincere, our community would have been very beautiful going by all the promises they have made to us. We have benefitted nothing from the government over the years despite all the wealth that has been taken from our land.
“There is nothing in our hospital which is about 50 years old. There is no single drug there. The health workers don’t even come regularly because there is nothing for them to work with. My daughter who fell into labour recently was rushed to Ilesa because the hospital cannot even take care of her. The situation is that bad,” he said.
Ajilore, Durojaiye
Ajilore, Durojaiye
But while residents in places like Owu-Epe, Igun and Ijana decry the destruction of their environments and sources of livelihoods, things are not also completely rosy for the young men who dig through their farmlands every day, hoping to hit gold. For many in this category, the search for the precious metal and hope of a better life often end in total disappointment, sometimes disaster.
“I was introduced to this business when I was 15 by my brothers,” Hassan Ahmed, 23, told our correspondent who stumbled on him and his gang in the forest through the help of a commercial motorcyclist who understands the terrain. “Two of them died in Niger State when the pit they were inside collapsed on them,” he continued. “Before we noticed and could rescue them, they were dead already. It was a bad experience for me as a little boy then but it did not make me stop the job because I have to survive.
“Recently, I was badly injured when a pit I was inside collapsed on me. I still feel pains all over my body but I have to continue or else there would be no food for me. If I am able to raise enough money to buy a motorbike, I would leave this job,” he said.
Ahmed had a deep cut on his palm when he climbed out from one of the pits on the field. A sharp object had inflicted a two-centimeter wound on his right hand while sifting through mud in search of the precious metal. With no analgesic within reach, he simply tied a rag on the cut, before hitting it hard with a small stick.
“That would stop the bleeding,” he said, turning to our correspondent with a friendly gaze. “This is part of what we face every day on this job. Many of us did not attend school and so this is the only means we know by which to feed ourselves. But I don’t plan to continue with this job for long, it is killing me gradually,” he said.
At 27, Sanni Mohammed, is another young man whose hope of an instant jackpot at Owu-Epe’s gold field is gradually turning into frustration. Journeying from Kaduna to the area in search of a new life, Yusuf told Saturday PUNCH that the trade is no longer as lucrative as it used to be.
“On several days we dig for hours without finding a trace of gold. But sometimes when luck smiles on us, we could leave the field with N2, 000 each. But for several weeks now, all we get after digging for so long is not more than N1, 200 when sold. By the time the group shares the money, each person could get around N300, it is from that money that we feed and buy drugs,” he said.
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