Stop illegal miners in Jos park, CSO urges Plateau government
PLATEAU State government has been called upon to stop illegal mining activities in Jos Wildlife Park and surrounding communities and rehabilitate them to their pristine state.
The call by Renevlyn Development Initiative ( RDI) comes on the heels of a Save Our Souls from residents of Tudun Wada, Dong and Federal Low- Cost Housing on the dangers posed by illegal mining of ore in their vicinity, which has left their farmlands with sinkholes.
The residents accused officials of the park of complicity, as they reportedly looked gardens/ parks in the the other way while mining countr y. But all that has activities escalated. changed in the last decade. RDI gathered that the illegal Narrating their ordeal, the mining activities systematinatives said illegal mining cally decimated the elephant, activities in the park and surbaboon and hyena popularounding communities had tion in the park, while the the tacit support of corr upt three communities with a government officials, who population of about 800,000 make money from the minlost their members to loose ers. soil that usually gives way According to RDI Board whenever they go to the farm. member, T obias Dapam,
The Jos Wildlif e Park was beyond the en vironmental established by Governor hazards that locals face, the Joseph Gomwalk in 197 and is once- serene en vironment, reputed as a place where which is a natural habitat of nature has been conserved. It animals and visiting tourists, is one of the big gest is now disturbed and noisy natural/ artifi cial zoological due to dig ging and other unsound en vironmental practices.
He said: “The locals now feel a heightened sense of i nsecurity as crime spirals in the communities due to the influx of non- natives, whose identities are not known.”
Reacting to the development, RDI Project Officer , Ifeoluwa Adediran, described the situation in the Jos Wildlife Park and surrounding communities as worrisome in view of the disruption of livelihoods, threats to peace and security and potential for revenue generation being allowed to fritter away.