EXCLUSIVE: Mining prospects excite northern Nigerian community

Hugh Morgan, an Australian mining industry veteran who headed the discovery of high grade nickel last year in Dangoma village, Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna state was three months ago, re-visited the area with good tidings to the community and the Nigerians that the nickel found in the area was the highest in quality, the first of its kind in the world.
The veteran, who visited the palace of the Tum Nikyob, Mr. Tanko Tete, in Bakin Kogi Kaninkon, with the District Head of Dangoma (Dissolved), Mahmuda Sulaiman, highlighted the leaders of the community the result of their research, and reaches the terms of agreement with the land owners.
Speaking with MetroNewsNG in Dangoma, the former District Head Malam Mahmuda Sulaiman, said that they were very happy to hear the result that the nickel found in their land is a world class. “Comet Mining Industry had spent over a time doing the survey, they carried the sample with them (to Australia) and now, they have come out with result confirming that the grade of the nickel is above 90 percent. The government was battling the recession and was talking about diversification of the economy towards solid minerals development and we thank God, upon discovering this mineral, would contribute a lot to the nation’s economy and tackle the embattling recession.”
He said, adding; “First, the nickel was found in one farm, but after carrying several surveys, they discovered it in so many farms within the area and, he told us that they are going to expand their survey very soon. We have brought before him our needs; build us hospital, boreholes, train our youth with skill acquisitions, and paying compensation to the owners of the land.” “The Kaduna state government has also promised to provide us with all the necessary facilities including the road project that will link them with Godogodo-Jagindi and to several states.
The District Head also revealed that the company has of now provided them with four boreholes, while the Chief of Army Staff also builds them one.
He also urged his people to continue to be law-abiding saying that no any development projects can succeed without peace.
One of the youth in Dangoma, Hamza Ibrahim, made a call to the State and the Federal Government to quickly kick-off the mining. “Because when the work starts, we are going to be employed as workers, and this will pave the way of creating more jobs for the community here. We are supporting the government’s policy of looking other dimensions for creating jobs for the jobless. I believe that when people were partially or fully employed, that will solve any kind of crisis or violence within the community.”
Akilu Abdullahi, one of the Dangoma youths representatives, spoke to MetroNewsNG on the development undergone after the discovery of nickel. He said that the discovery of nickel will soon turn out Nigeria from economic crisis. “This is a very big proud not only to the people of Dangoma, Jema’a Local government or kaduna state, but to the nation at large. So we pray that this work would soon be kicking off.”
The youth’s representative also call the attention of the government to the major problems they are facing, saying that; “Our community here have many problems. First, we want government to build us more schools, our only primary school is over-crowded with pupils and we don’t have a secondary school here, second, we have no hospitals, no good roads and finally, we are pleading the government to recruits our graduates on various fields and support our students with scholarship.”
In his speech at a Town Hall meeting organized by the AHQ Department of Civil-Military Affairs, the Kaduna state Deputy Governor, Yusuf Barnabas Bala Bantex said that they were working hard in terms of creating jobs to the people of the state, which, in his belief, will counter the state of insecurity. The Deputy, however, said that the state governor Malam Nasir El-Rufa’i has directed that Dangoma should be flooded with all the necessary facilities. “We have realized the nexus that exist between unemployment, poverty and deprivation on one hand, and insecurity in the other hand. So we are committed to ensuring the creation of jobs for our teaming youth and we cannot do these by employing people to work within the government, so we are attracting investors to come out with their money, we would assist them with land and all necessary support in establishing industries that have the capacities that will mop up with the teaming unemployment in Kaduna state… here in Dangoma, even though we are battling with the investors on the nickel found, the first of its kind in the world. The Governor has directed that all the Dangoma area should be flooded with all the necessary roads, the necessary health facilities, and the necessary schools so that we have an orderly development of the area while mining activities are going through. The miners are also under the directives of the governor, that the youths of the area should be train as miners who would take over from the white people at the end of the day so that what is happening in the Niger-Delta where after fifty years we are just thinking about training the youths of the area to be familiar with the drillings and other activities in the oil sector so that we can do something different in Kaduna state.”