Long before daylight breaks across various solid mineral communities in Nigeria, young children are already awake, getting ready for another demanding shift at local mining locations.
Instead of preparing for school, they are armed with shovels, pans and working tools heading for various mining pits at designated sites, where they dig through sand, rocks for gold and other minerals, often working alongside adults to help their families survive.
For these children, mining is not just a job, it means long hours of physical work, exposure to dangerous chemicals in mining pits and heavy-duty machinery, and missed opportunities to get formal education.
Nigeria has a significant artisanal and small-scale mining sector, with gold mining among the activities in which child labour has been documented. Poverty, limited access to education and the need for additional household income are among the factors associated with children entering the sector.
For a child working at a mining site, the gold recovered from the ground may provide an immediate income, but the cost is always greater when the child loses education, safety and the chance to develop beyond the mine. A typical example is the recent incident that happened in Niger State, where 37 teenage miners died tragically while in custody.
Behind every mining statistic is a child-miner whose childhood may be shaped by poverty and work instead of classrooms. Addressing child labour in Nigeria’s mining communities means addressing the economic conditions that push families into it and ensuring that every child has a realistic path back to education and a safer future.
7-year-old mines in Nasarawa
Nasarawa is one of the leading states in the country with large deposits of mineral resources. The abundance of these resources has earned the state the slogan: “Home of Solid Minerals.”
Across its 13 local government areas, there is hardly any area without one or more mineral deposits. This has led to an influx of people into the state, including underage children from far and neighbouring states, in search of minerals to trade and earn a living.
Weekend Trust’s visit to the Court Road mining site in Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area saw hundreds of children engaged in mining activities, with some in the company of their parents. Others were under the care of their masters.
A seven-year-old Uzina Ibrahim, one of the children miners who has never been enrolled in school, said she worked at the site daily to earn a living.
“I am not enrolled in any school because my parents cannot afford it. I am always in this tin mining site working to earn a living,” she said.
She said her duties involved packing sand from dug holes and washing it to extract tin.
Uzina disclosed that she earned a maximum of N1,500 daily. “I work alongside my mother, and at the end of the day, my mother gives me N1,500 or a little below as my remuneration,” she said.
However tedious the working conditions are, she identified scarcity of water as a major challenge.
“If not because of the rainy season you can’t see us here because we take the materials to long distances where there is water to wash them,” she said.
Also at the site is a 15-year-old Lawrence Nanlep from Qua’an Pan Local Government Area. Nanlep is involved in digging, washing and selling minerals under a boss identified as Christian, who pays him N10,000 daily.
He said he didn’t attend school, noting that he enjoys the work and has no plan to leave it for another trade, adding: “I have been here for just a month and a half.”
Similarly, a 14-year-old Abdulmajid Habibu from Doguwa Local Government Area of Kano State, who mines iron ore, said mining was his only job, adding, “I do it for myself, but when someone brings work to the point of sale, we do it.”
He noted that his daily income varied between N1,000 and N10,000, saying, “If God helps you after digging, you can make N10,000, N8,000, N5,000 or N3,000. On some days, even if you get N1,000, you that God.”
Lamenting that non-payment of wages by employers is a major challenge, Habibu said: “Many of our masters always argue when it comes to paying us after work. Just recently, someone took us to a place called Tudu Uku. We spent a whole week working for him, finished the work and washed the iron ore, but he left without paying us.”
He said he didn’t have western education but attended a Quranic school. He said, “I am an almajiri; I did Quranic studies.”
A 17-year-old Adamu Yusuf, a miner in Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, said he had spent the last year and half working on mining sites in search of solid minerals. He said he worked under a sponsor who engaged them to work at different sites within the area.
According to him, they excavate both mechanically and manually, depending on the nature of the site and the financial capacity of the sponsor, adding that minerals extracted in the area include green tourmaline and tin.
He said his parents were not comfortable with his involvement in mining and had repeatedly cautioned him to stop, but he always found his way back to the site against their wish.
Yusuf told Weekend Trust that he makes between N10,000 and N15,000 from the job, which he uses to take care of himself, including feeding, clothing and transportation.
Despite his parents’ disapproval, he said he also supported his mother and younger siblings with the proceeds.
He admitted that mining is associated with hazards, including sustaining injuries while operating machines, sand collapse during excavation and falling sick from inhaling dust from minerals.
He said that most times, when they sustain injuries on the job, the sponsor takes immediate responsibility for their treatment, but if the injury does not heal on time, the sponsor stops paying and leaves the victim to their fate.
The teenage miner noted that unlike injuries sustained on site, if a miner falls sick and cannot report to work, the sponsor replaces him with another miner without offering any support to the sick employee.
He recounted that during one of their operations, sand collapsed on three of his colleagues and one of them died.
Yusuf added that his sponsor sometimes forced them to carry out tasks beyond their strength, such as working beyond normal hours, especially when the sponsor wants to reach a certain depth within a timeframe or does not want to miss a particular mineral deposit.
Another miner, 21-year-old Shuaibu Suleiman, said he had been involved in mining for three years, which has become part of his life since he dropped out of school in JSS 2.
He said he started mining when he followed his mother to the site to assist her in washing minerals, and as he grew older, he began assisting excavators, who later introduced him to manual digging to extract minerals for sponsors.
Suleiman said he worked in groups with other miners under one sponsor, who takes care of their feeding without any additional allowance.
According to him, the benefit-sharing system is such that after extraction, the minerals are divided into three: one for the sponsor, one for the farm or site owner and one for the miners, which they must sell to their sponsor, even if another buyer offers a higher price.
He explained that members of the group would share the money gotten from the sale of their portion to the sponsor among themselves, depending on the amount realised and the number of members in the group.
He said they sometimes got between N100,000 and over N1 million, depending on the quantity of materials extracted, the selling price and the number of members sharing it.
He said that like any other human being, he would fall sick, but the most dangerous ailment is associated with minerals. He recalled that about a year ago, he fell ill and was taken to a hospital, where a doctor confirmed that the minerals had affected his lungs. He was given drugs and advised to find an alternative work, but after recovery, he returned to mining because he had no other job.
He said that during his ailment, his sponsor only gave him little assistance, while most of the hospital expenses were paid by his brother and sister, who also work with him on the mining site.
Suleiman told our reporter that one of his colleagues fell into a pit while working during excavation and sustained a spinal cord injury, and after spending about N1 million on his treatment, the sponsor abandoned him. He identified the victim as Ibrahim, who has relocated to his village in Plateau State to live with his poor family, whom he believes lack the resources to cater for his medical needs.
He maintained that these are some of the challenges they face and called on their sponsors to improve operational systems to reduce the risks associated with mining.
Suleiman said he came from Bauchi State with his colleagues. Asked whether his parents support what he does, he said he did not think so because he did not seek their permission before leaving.
He said they only heard that he was in Nasarawa State and had been calling him to return home, expressing their unhappiness over his decision. He said he was looking for more resources and time to quit mining and return home to his parents and relatives.
Also, a 14-year-old Adam Bulus said he had spent six months working on a mining site alongside his elder brother, who is engaged in excavation.
Bulus said his mother also worked on the site and that whatever he earned was saved by his mother and elder brother, which they use to sponsor him in school, apart from feeding the family back home in Plateau State.
According to him, he is a JSS3 student and is currently missing school. But his mother has promised to return him home to continue his education.
He said that despite being with his mother and brother on the site, his father back home was not happy that he left school for mining.
Bulus, who showed our reporter a healing injury on his ankle, said he sustained it inside the pit from a digger while digging sand and was taken to a medical facility by his brother.
He further said that as the injury healed and he felt a bit better, he returned to the site to continue work. But the level of work he does now has reduced compared to what he used to do before the injury.
He said he assisted his brother in excavation and gathering materials, as well as helping his mother, who washes and separates waste from the minerals. The miners admitted that there are occasions where machines break down during operation and cause injuries to them or their co-workers.
Children miners behind gold, blue sapphire boom in Taraba
In Taraba State, it is not only poverty that pushes underage children and women into illegal labour but the quick and huge money made from sale of gold and other precious stones, including diamonds and blue sapphire.
In the Mayo Kam illegal mining sites, many people, including the underage, sell gold worth millions of naira to agents of precious stone traders.
It was learnt that gold and precious stone traders come from Lagos, Jos, Abuja and Kano but have their agents in every location where illegal mining operates in Taraba State.
Falalu Saidu, a resident of Garba Chede town in Bali Local Government Area, told Weekend Trust that once a new mining site is discovered, people, including women and underage children, troop to the site for illegal mining.
He narrated how two of his children in junior secondary school went along with other youths to the Mayo Kam mining site to mine but were not as lucky as their peers in the town as his children made only N100,000 and N50,000 respectively after spending two weeks at the site.
According to him, other youths from the town were lucky to make millions of naira from the gold they dug out from the same site.
Similarly, Adamu Usman, a junior secondary school student in Garba Chede town, Bali Local Government Area of Taraba State, said poverty pushed him into illegal mining.
He said he was on the site for over two weeks until soldiers and police chased him and other miners out about four weeks ago.
He narrated that he had heard stories of young people making millions from the sale of gold they dug out from the mining site; and also wanted to make money because his parents are poor.
Usman told Weekend Trust that he once made N500,000 from the sale of a big stone he dug out from the site.
Narrating his experience, he said he was taken to a man close to the site, who valued the stone and paid him N500,000.
“I didn’t really know the actual value of the stone, so when l was told that it was valued at N500,000, l didn’t argue. l quickly collected the money and came back home because I had never seen such an amount of money in my life.
“I went back to the mining site to keep digging, but after two days, soldiers arrived and chased everyone out,” he said.
Another young man called Adamu from Sansani Bali told Weekend Trust that his friends encouraged him to follow them to the site. And they worked as a team, spending three weeks there.
He noted that they were lucky to find precious stones as they made N3 million after selling the gold they dug out.
He also said they shared the proceeds and each of them got N400,000. However, unfortunately, before they could dig out another stone, security agents came and chased everyone out of the site.
A 20-year-old Losive Ele who shared her ordeal said she was not as lucky in her search for quick wealth as she got missing for four days inside the forest after she and other illegal miners were chased away from the mining site.
Losive, a secondary school leaver, told Weekend Trust that her parents were poor and couldn’t afford to sponsor her for higher education.
According to her, because of poverty she quickly agreed to follow some men from the village, who told her that she could make money easily from illegal mining inside Gashaka forest.
“I didn’t inform my parents of my mission. Unfortunately, the day we started mining, some people in uniform, who l learnt were park rangers, chased us out of the site. I got lost while running because I was not familiar with the forest. Luckily, l was rescued alive after four days in the forest,” Losive narrated.
Weekend Trust further gathered that illegal mining is still ongoing at different locations across Taraba State without the knowledge of security agents or the mobile court set up by the Taraba State Government against illegal mining.
It was also gathered that blue sapphire, gold and diamond, among other precious stones, are illegally mined across the state.
Despite ban, illegal mining thrives in Plateau
Despite the recent ban on artisanal mining by the Plateau State Government over rising school dropout and criminal activities, children below the age of 18 have continued mining in parts of the state.
In Jos North Local Government Area, a 14-year-old Musa Abdullahi, said he engaged in mining to support his family. According to him, he is still in junior classes but goes for mining at a regular interval.
Abdullahi said: “I am doing it to support my younger ones and myself. We have nothing at home. If I don’t go to the pit, we will not eat. I go to the mining site after school hours.”
In Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, an 11-year-old Ibrahim Musa said he started mining to buy school uniform, books, cloths and other necessary materials to support his education.
Caleb Dung, a 13-year-old boy who resides in Barikin Ladi, said he was lured by his peers. “My friend persuaded me to join him because I was not doing anything,” he noted.
Our correspondent observed that children now go to the sites as early as 8am to mine.
Children risk death, disease in Ondo pits
Deep inside the forests and mining sites across parts of Ondo State, children as young as 12 work in dangerous artisanal gold mines, exposed daily to deadly pit collapse, toxic chemicals and harsh conditions in a desperate struggle for survival.
Findings by Weekend Trust showed that illegal artisanal mining activities thrive in communities around Laje, Odigbo and Litaye in Ondo town and other parts of the state, where local miners operate largely outside government’s regulation.
The miners, mostly villagers with little or no formal education, work in groups of three to five persons, using rudimentary tools, such as shovels, pickaxes, hammers and head pans to search for gold and other precious minerals. Many of them live in makeshift tents erected in the bush, where they spend days or weeks carrying out illegal mining activities.
A miner who spoke with our reporter on condition of anonymity disclosed that teenagers were frequently involved in the mining operations. According to him, children between the ages of 12 and 17 are often recruited or attracted to the sites because they are willing to work for little pay.
“Those boys are vulnerable children who left their families to search for survival on their own,” he said.
He explained that the teenagers are paid based on the quantity of gold recovered. “We pay each person N70,000 per gram of gold found,” he noted.
The miner, however, admitted that the work exposed the children to life-threatening hazards. “The risks are many. Pits can collapse on them,” he said.
He added that many of the children were taught how to use mercury in the gold extraction process despite the known health dangers.
“We teach some of the children how to use mercury to mine. They add it to the particles washed to separate the gold. Mercury is poisonous, lead is also dangerous,” he added.
Apart from chemical exposure, the miners are exposed to dust generated during the crushing of rocks, often without protective equipment. He further revealed that basic sanitation facilities were non-existent at most mining sites.
“There are no clean water and toilet facilities. Some people defecate inside the same river they drink from,” he noted.
According to him, pit collapse remains the leading cause of fatalities in artisanal mining operations. “Pits are dug deep with no support. When it rains, they collapse and bury miners alive. That is the number one cause of death,” he added.
Asked how the children are recruited, the miner said many arrived at the sites on their own or through friends. “They come around on their own. They bring their friends, mostly during weekends. Sometimes we may not find gold for a long time; and when there is no gold, there is no money,” he said.
One of the teenage miners, a 13-year-old Babatunde Pelumi, who was introduced through his supervisor, said poverty forced him into the dangerous trade. The teenager, who didn’t complete his primary school education, said a friend introduced him to gold mining in Ondo State.
“It hasn’t been easy for me, but I have to survive. I don’t know my father, and my mother is a petty trader. I was not privileged to go to school, but I still mingle with educated people and learn from them,” he said.
According to him, the possibility of earning quick money keeps many children in mining pits despite the dangers.
“Sometimes when we work in groups and find gold, no matter how small it is, I can go home with at least N50,000,” he said.
Pelumi said he had earned more than N200,000 since joining the mining operation about six months ago. “Since I started, I have made more than N200,000, but I want to make more money so that I can quit,” he noted.
He recalled witnessing a fatal accident at a mining site shortly after joining the trade. “I have seen someone die since I started six months ago. It was a very big concern for me. We were digging at night under a pit,” he noted.
The teenager also said frequent illness had become part of life for many young miners. “Anytime I get money from mining, I assist my mother with her business. I also buy drugs because most times I have fever after work,” he said.
Another miner, Badejo Kolawole, explained that artisanal miners relied largely on traditional knowledge passed down through generations rather than scientific exploration techniques.
“We don’t use advanced laboratory tests. We use local knowledge passed from fathers to sons. We look at the colour of the soil, the type of rocks and dig where they suspect gold, lithium, tin, coltan, tantalite and other minerals,” he explained.
For hard-rock gold mining, he said stones were brought to the surface and crushed into powder before being washed to separate the gold particles.
“Gold is heavier, so it settles at the bottom during washing,” he said.
According to him, mercury is often used to capture fine gold particles before the final product is heated and cleaned for sale. “After separating it, they burn the gold and remove impurities before selling it to local buyers and middlemen,” he added.
Investigations showed that most of the gold extracted from the sites is sold through informal channels, making it difficult for the authorities to monitor production, enforce safety standards or prevent child labour.
‘Why we allow our children to mine’
In Nasarawa State, parents of some children miners attribute their involvement to economic hardship.
Abdulhamid Shuaibu, whose three children are involved in mining, said he allowed them to engage in it after he lost his truck driving business, exhausted his savings and sold part of his property.
“It became a situation that anytime I got home I won’t see my children, and when I asked, I would be told that they went to work at a mining site,” he said.
He, however, added that the children, aged between 10 and 16, now support the family. “These children started to support not only me but their mother. In fact, sometimes we use their earnings to feed the entire family,” he said.
He added that the children dropped out of school when he couldn’t afford it anymore, expressing the hope that they would return to school even if they would sponsor themselves from mining proceeds.
Also, Hadiza Abubakar, a mother who mines alongside her two children, said they resorted to mining because her husband, a peasant farmer, didn’t earn enough to cater for the family’s needs.
“Why are you asking why I allowed my children to engage in mining? Seeing me together with them here shows that it is a family affair,” she said.
Hadiza said her children still attended school, though not regularly. “My children go to school, although they miss a day or two a week to meet up with our mining activities,” she said.
She appealed to the government at all levels to initiate programmes that would make school enrolment easier for poor parents.
‘How we buy tin from artisanal miners’
A tin buyer at a Nasarawa State site, Ahmadu Salihu, explained how miners excavate, wash and roast the mineral, locally known as kuza to separate it from sand before bringing it for sale.
He said he bought per kilogram using a scale, explaining, “One kilogram is from N30,000 to N37,000 this morning.” He also said that even small quantities were measured and paid for.
Salihu described the relationship between buyers and artisanal miners as interdependent, saying, “Without the artisans, the buyers will not operate.”
Nasarawa govt moves to prevent Niger-like tragedy
Meanwhile, the Nasarawa State Government says it has mobilised its enforcement team with security operatives to mining communities to check child mining and prevent a recurrence of the Niger State tragedy where 37 teenagers reportedly died in illegal mining pits.
The Commissioner for Environment, Mineral Resources and Mining in the state, Mrs Margaret Elayo, disclosed this in Lafia while reacting to the report.
Elayo said the ministry received disturbing videos from its field officers showing underage children being used in mining pits in parts of the state.
“This morning I called the department and I told them that I had already mobilised them. They are going to that community and one other community we are yet to get the proper details from. They are going there with the security details in Nasarawa State so that we will make sure that we nip it before any of such ugly experiences that even led to many deaths,” she said.
She described illegal mining as “very, very unacceptable” and warned that the administration of Governor Abdullahi Sule would no longer tolerate investors and community collaborators who violate mining laws.
According to her, although mining licences are issued by the federal government through the Mining Cadastre Office, every investor must first report to the state ministry for documentation and community sensitisation.
Elayo lamented that many operators abused exploration licences to engage in full-blown mining, employing teenagers without safety gear.
“When my permanent secretary sent me that message yesterday, it broke my heart because the video was unbearable. You would see little kids without shoes and mining gadgets going deeper and deeper into holes that could collapse at any time,” she lamented.
The commissioner warned that operators who polluted community water sources with chemicals would be sanctioned. “We will arrest you and lock you up. As a matter of fact, if I can, I am going to throw away the key because what you cannot do to your soul you should not do it to others,” she warned.
It is not only poverty that pushes underage children into illegal mining but also easy money from selling gold and precious stones.
In Niger State, a 13-year-old Aliyu Bello and his 10-year-old brother, Saidu Bello, are also trading the classroom for the mining pit to fend for themselves and their mother after the death of their father five years ago.
The brothers, who reside in the Gbeganu area of Minna, the state capital and have been mining for the past three years, told Weekend Trust that they trek about 4km everyday from their home to Shango, where they spend most of their days searching for gold.
“We go to Shango every day to mine gold. We leave home as early as 6am and return home at past 4pm every day,” he noted.
For Aliyu, mining is a means of survival rather than a choice. He said he dropped out of school following the death of his father and now relies on proceeds from mining to provide food for himself and his brother.
“This is better than stealing. It helps us a lot. If it were stealing, people would be referring to us as thieves each time they see us. We don’t steal, we don’t beg,” he said.
Aliyu said their mother, who has remarried and relocated to Tayi village, also depends occasionally on the money they make from mining.
“Our mother has remarried and moved to stay with her husband in Tayi village. Sometimes she calls us to assist her financially. We do send her money to buy food.
“We live in our father’s family house. Our father’s room has been given to us, but nobody feeds us. We cook food ourselves,” he said.
The teenager said the proceeds from mining could sometimes be substantial as they make as much as N20,000 on a good day.
But their involvement in artisanal mining has also exposed them to the risk of arrest by security personnel, particularly the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), which has been involved in efforts to curb illegal mining activities.
Aliyu said they narrowly escaped arrest on several occasions, including the recent incident where some of their colleagues lost their lives.
“We would have been arrested by the NSCDC during the recent operation, but we decided to rest at home that day. We were at home when we heard that our colleagues were arrested and some of them later died in cell. We have escaped arrest several times,” he noted.
Aliyu said he and his brother would leave mining if the government provided them with support.
Like Aliyu, a 15-year-old Samira Mohammed, a resident of Maitumbi, told Weekend Trust that she lived with her grandmother.
“Through mining we get money to buy food and pay rent. My grandmother comes with me sometimes,” she said.
Some of the children whose ages range between 11 and 16 years were found at mining sites along Maitumbi -Gwada road.
When contacted, there was no official response from the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development as of the time of filing this report. When contacted, Lara Owoeye-Wise, the media aide to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, said she would revert with an official response, explaining that the relevant officials were unavailable to comment at the time. “Today is public holiday. I will revert as soon as I get response,” she stated.
In a chat with Weekend Trust, a medical doctor, Godwin Ekuwke, warned that children involved in mining face serious and potentially long-term health risks because of their age and developing bodies.
He said exposure to dust, toxic chemicals and heavy metals used or released during mining could cause respiratory problems, skin diseases, neurological damage and other health complications.
“Children are particularly vulnerable because their bodies and organs are still developing. Prolonged exposure to mining dust and toxic substances can affect their lungs, brain and other vital organs, while injuries from mine sites can also result in permanent disabilities,” Ekuwke said.
What You Should Know
This report highlights the severe socioeconomic challenges pushing underage children into hazardous artisanal and small-scale mining across Nigeria, depriving them of formal education and exposing them to extreme physical dangers.
- Positive Impact: Bringing this critical issue to light raises public awareness, which can drive policymakers and NGOs to enforce child protection laws and improve community welfare.
- Potential Concerns: The persistence of child labor threatens the future development of these youths, exposes them to toxic chemicals and physical injuries, and perpetuates the cycle of poverty in mining regions.
