Keeping the Dig Safe: Dr. Orji’s Crusade for Peace in Africa’s Mines

the boss man at NEITI, Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji, he’s been championing the idea of setting up this crack team to keep an eye on things at the mines.

This little shindig brought together people from mining communities far and wide under one roof, all thanks to Global Rights and ACCA. They huddled up to gab about the sticky situations they’re running into. Our main man, Dr. Orji, is clued in that Africa’s practically sitting on a goldmine—well, not just gold, but diamonds, oil, and gas too! These sparkly treasures could really turn things around for our mates, boosting livelihoods and moving our nations up a gear.

But it’s not all smooth sailing; the spots where they’re digging up these riches are seeing some pretty rough stuff. Dr. Orji’s shouting from the rooftops for everyone to gang up with the security lads and the mining communities to give the unsavoury characters a run for their money. He’s keen on seeing the wealth from our underground riches do some good for everyone. And he’s all about keeping our neck of the woods green for the wee ones, making sure the folks hosting the mines aren’t getting the short end of the stick.

Across from him, you’ve got Dr. Dele Alake, the Minister of Solid Minerals, and he’s throwing his hat in the ring with a big cheer for everyone’s spirit. He’s swearing up and down that the Nigerian government will keep things consistent and buff up security for the mining communities. Hats off to Global Rights as well for batting for the smaller communities.

The minister’s dishing out advice to the meeting about sticking to the straight and narrow, keeping tabs on each other, and splitting the weight evenly. The brains behind the meet-up, Global Rights and ACCA, are worried stiff over the growing pains our mining buddies in West Africa are facing. They think it’s about time we pull up some chairs, put our heads together, and cook up some plans to sort out these blues.

So fasten your seatbelts, they organised this real doozy called the ‘2023 West African Mining Host Communities indaba.’ It’s basically a big bash for the head honchos from mining towns across West Africa to natter and figure out how to keep everyone out of hot water. Abiodun Baiyewu, the head honcho at Global Rights, piped up to tell everyone that it’s crucial to get all the minds in one spot—to lob ideas back and forth and figure out how to patch up what’s bugging us.

In a nutshell, he reckons we’ve got to ensure our buried treasure is putting its back into helping more than just the lucky few. We’ve got to spin this gold into something stellar for everyone’s benefit—that’s where the real treasure lies, isn’t it? Keep it real, mates!