Feature • Created March 3, 2024 02:51

Ifumkpa: Cross River community in squalor despite sitting on gold

Ifumkpa is a sprawling community located within the Cross River National Park. But despite the large deposit of gold underneath, poverty and squalor coexist there as powerful merchants engage ‘illegal miners’ and armed local youths to shortchange the community. There were able-bodied young men all over the place. There were also a handful of womenfolk, […]

There were able-bodied young men all over the place. There were also a handful of womenfolk, even though movement of women and strangers were temporarily restricted for a few hours on this particular day because the village held a special sacrifice meant for peace and good yield as they are a farming community.

A few elderly villagers, mostly women with logs of firewood on their heads, were seen returning from their farms as this correspondent approached the village. They looked frail and fatigued, probably due to back-breaking traditional ways of farming.

The handwriting of poverty was visible everywhere despite the rich natural endowment beneath their soil. Old mud houses were seen, some of them caving in. Indeed, one could count on the fingertips, few available modern houses under construction.

Like in a typical African rural setting, one could see domestic animals like goats and childens following footpaths that snaked through the bushes. The only visible public structure was a primary school which had been weather-beaten, a long and defaced building made up of a few classes with an uneven football field.

At Ifumkpa, ‘illegal gold diggers’ have opened a floodgate of sorts.

Loosely translated in the Ibibio language to mean ‘chair of death’, gold is said to have been discovered in very large deposits over two years ago in the community. The community is in Akamkpa, the largest local government area in Cross River State, but it is easily accessed from Biase Local Government Area. These two local government areas are acclaimed to have vast deposit of assorted precious stones, which is why massive illegal mining takes place there daily.

Ifumkpa has become famous because of the rush for gold. Interestingly, the mining, crude processing and sales are said to be mostly done by youths from other parts of Nigeria, as well as foreigners from Chad and Niger.

It is estimated that there are more than 5,000 illegal miners that have already invaded the community.

Bumpy motorcycle ride

A journey to Ifumkpa takes approximately an hour of motorcycle (okada) ride from the Ekpri Iko village junction on the Calabar-Ikom federal highway through a bumpy, dusty road.

The rider never conveys one passenger at a time but a minimum of three before embarking on the long, ardours journey through mostly uninhabited bushes.

He must, however, ensure that he has enough fuel to take him so as to avoid being stranded in the middle of nowhere. Little wonder some of them usually carry extra small-sized bottles of fuel along.

The riders are happier if the passengers are up to four. Each person pays between N1,500 and N2,000 for the uncomfortable ride, depending on their bargaining power. So, he makes N8,000 on one journey from the four passengers. He would run at breakneck speed despite pleas from passengers to meet and evacuate other passengers from the other end.

It was observed that as a result of the influx of these gold-digging merchants, Ifumkpa road is now quite busy. Some okada riders confessed joyfully that they make as much as N35,000 per day although with resultant health strains and attendant mechanical effects.

As they speed away, they are not worried about the dust that temporarily blinds them and their passengers. They don’t even care how their rickety motorcycles toss the passengers or injure them.

There are reports of an increasing number of motorcyclists who sometimes collide due to competition to convey passengers.

Hired by gold merchants

The gold diggers are largely in their 20s, 30s and 40s. They are said to be hired from their states, mostly from the North by big-time merchants who operate behind the scenes. The gold diggers would agree on what ounce or kilograms of raw gold they are to deliver promptly.

Findings confirmed that each employer usually has a hub of 10 to 15 of these boys, excavating and carting the gold in their raw form for them. Each person can be tasked to get five or ten kilograms of gold per week. The employer would have paid for their welfare, including food, for the week. Accommodation is not part of the agreement as they sleep in the forest.

“This is why you see them with mats, small bags containing grains like rice, beans, etc. They either stay inside the forest close to their sites or put up in the community. You also see them with head pans, diggers, machetes, spades and long rods. They use these implements to dig for raw gold,” said a source in the community.

When our correspondent sought to know why the natives or other people were not also involved in the excavation expedition, one of the diggers who gave his name as Aminu Abdul, aged about 30 said, “We have the ‘means’ to trace the stone. You know, gold is like spirit. It can be difficult to locate as it keeps moving.”

Security threat

Some of the gold diggers in Ifumkpa have been reported to arm themselves with daggers and charms and dare those who oppose them.

According to sources in the community, they are always at daggers drawn with forest rangers from the national park and soldiers sent to enforce laws against mining and building houses in the protected areas.

Their presence is said to have threatened the security of Ifumkpa and surrounding forest communities. Similarly, their activities are now telling on the Cross River National Park and Ifumkpa community, according to natives and environmental and forest stakeholders.

A kg of gold sold for N70,000

Investigation showed that anyone could buy the raw or processed gold at the mining sites or proceed to the Iwuru tipper garage, not too far from Ifumkpa. This is like a depot.

Findings further revealed that a kilogram of gold is sold at N70,000 at Iwuru park, but the buyer may have to watch his back to be sure of his safety.

There is no doubt that this gold business, whether or not it is illegally mined, is really lucrative, which explains why hordes of youths are attracted to the site ceaselessly.

We live from hand to mouth despite sitting on gold – Traditional ruler

The traditional head of Ifumkpa, Cletus Ibuni, a retired school principal, said his community was seriously challenged by very poor roads, which largely affect evacuations of their yam, plantain, cocoa, cassava and melon to the towns, especially during the rainy season.

“We are over 10,000, but our community is very poor. We have no road, no electricity and no telecom services. Our only nearby stream has dried up. The other two streams are very far away, so water is a big problem for us. But last year, a wealthy man from northern Nigeria who came to prospect for our natural stone, erected a solar-powered borehole for us. Our people have been very thankful to him for relieving us from such hardship and stress of water scarcity.

“There’s no government presence in this village. We built the primary and secondary schools and the primary health care centre through our sweat. No police post here. Not even one of our children is recruited into the police force, navy or army.

“We have heard that strangers are in my community extracting precious stones. They are doing so in connivance with our youths. We didn’t authorise them. It is not true that we reached agreement with the gold diggers. We don’t get anything from it. That’s why you see poverty written everywhere.

“Our youths have compromised. They get peanuts from these people and show them our forests.

“When we talk, the youths will assault us. They challenge us. We face many threats from these elements that have invaded our forests, digging up gold. We are not very safe in this community.

“We strongly call on both the state and federal governments to send soldiers and policemen to our village. Our lives are at risk. The forest rangers are threatened. They can’t do much,” he said.

A member of the Cross River Miners Association, Fidelis Achu, an exploration and solid mineral development expert, said the federal government was losing revenues running into billions of naira through the activities of illegal miners in many parts of the country, particularly Cross River State.

Achu said there was collusion by federal mining and state government officials with illegal miners, which reason there had been a preponderance of illegal mining activities in the state and beyond.

“The federal government is losing millions of naira every week as a result of illegal mining in Cross River State alone. This is because the federal officials whose job it is to constantly undertake checks at mining sites around the country are not doing the right thing,” he said.

Mr Matthew Aidam, the youth president in Akamkpa, said he was encountering tough times with the youth.

But few youths in the community disagreed with the elders who claimed that the gold merchants never discussed with them nor did they receive any form of royalty.

Also, the conservator of the park, Caroline Olory, raised concern over the invasion of the park.

She said the Cadastral Office in the Ministry of Mines and Steel had since withdrawn licences allegedly issued in error to two firms, but their workers were still perpetrating inimical activities in the park.

According to Olory, the large number of illegal miners who inundate the park portends grave dangers, warning the community against being compromised by accepting the tokens they get from loggers and illegal miners.

“Not one community can boast of any infrastructure, including houses or other facilities they got for allowing illegal miners to devastate their lands and deplete forest resources,” she said, while calling for support for the forest rangers from both state and federal governments.

She called on the host communities to help safeguard the park against mining, hunting and logging.

The chairman of Cross River State Forestry Commission, George Oben-Etchi, said they had recruited 300 eco guards and an additional 300 would be recruited in another batch.

When contacted, the legislator representing Akamkpa 1 state constituency, where Ifumkpa falls, Ntufam Okon Owuna, said it was not his direct responsibility but that of the mining agency in the state to intervene.

Many natives and stakeholders have backed the call by the village head of Ifumkpa, Chief Ibuni, that soldiers and policemen be stationed in their community.

They expressed the fear that if left unchecked, the invaders may go beyond mining as their activities could attract bandits and terrorists to the area.

passengers are up to four. Each person pays between N1,500 and N2,000 for the uncomfortable ride, depending on their bargaining power. So, he makes N8,000 on one journey from the four passengers. He would run at breakneck speed despite pleas from passengers to meet and evacuate other passengers from the other end.