Niger State Governor, Umaru Bago, has said the Federal Government, rather than the state government, should be responsible for any compensation to the families of 37 suspected illegal miners who died in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
Bago stated this in an interview with Minna-based online television platform, Zarar Bunu, aired on Sunday.
The governor said the state government could not be held responsible for compensation because the deaths occurred while the victims were in the custody of a federal security agency.
“We are not bound to pay any compensation, except the Federal Government. Our own is to offer support,” he said.
Bago explained that the incident occurred in Niger State only because the arrests were carried out there, stressing that the state government neither ordered the arrests nor was informed about them.
“What’s our own? It’s only a coincidence that it happened in our state. We didn’t send them (Civil Defence) to arrest anybody. We were not also aware of the arrest,” he said.
The governor, however, said his administration would support the affected families and engage relevant authorities to ensure they receive assistance.
Bago also raised questions over the relationship between the NSCDC and some of the miners arrested at the mining sites.
He recalled that the state government had previously directed that mining activities at the MI Wushishi sites be stopped, and that the NSCDC had informed the government that the sites had been sealed.
“There was a time we asked that the MI Wushishi mining sites be shut, and the Civil Defence, being responsible for controlling mining activities, informed us that the sites had been shut. So you can now see from what happened that there is something between them,” he said.
According to the governor, the state government was not notified that the miners had been arrested or taken into custody.
He said he ordered the bodies to be transferred to the General Hospital, Minna, for autopsies after receiving reports of the deaths on Thursday.
Bago said the autopsy and ongoing investigations would help establish what led to the deaths and determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The deaths have triggered outrage in the state, with residents and other stakeholders demanding an investigation into what happened to the miners while in NSCDC custody.
The incident also sparked riots in Minna, during which public and private properties were reportedly destroyed.
Bago condemned the violence, expressing regret over the destruction and urging that the circumstances surrounding the deaths be addressed through lawful investigation rather than unrest.
