How Indian Coy Is Quietly Killing Kaduna Community Residents While Govt Looks Away

It is hard to believe people are still living in Maraban Babu, a community in Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State, where the day looks grey and the night terrifying. Yet it is home to nearly five thousand residents who have nowhere else to go.

A visitor is likely to choke due to the heavy, polluted air that constricts the throat. A plume of black smoke billowing from the nearby iron ore mining and processing plant owned by the African Natural Resources and Mines Limited (ANRML) form clouds over the community.

The company started operations around 2022 after building a 900-hectare Iron-Ore mining and processing plant to facilitate steel production. Since then, the facility’s boilers and furnaces have continued to release soot-heavy smoke that has fouled the atmosphere and negatively impacted the host communities.

Everyone walks around in clothes stained by soot. An invasion of black dust is visible all around the community – land, farms and rooftops have all turned black! Since there are no boreholes, water from the wells has taken on the colour of ash.

“This is how we live daily,” says Alli Manman, the traditional chief of the area who spoke in Hausa. “Every day we ask ourselves if we’re about to die.”

Manman was set to leave his residence when THE WHISTLER met him. He was wearing a cream-coloured caftan which had almost turned grey due to the black smoke from the blast furnaces of ANRML plants.

He said life has become harder for his people since the company started its operations in the community around January 2022.

“Our health is failing due to the smoke that has polluted the air we breathe,” he continued, adding, “the black dust gets into everything we eat and drink.”

Residents told THE WHISTLER that whenever they cough, they spit out black phlegm, which is a sign that the toxic black air is also invading their lungs.

Ms Happiness Kyari, headmistress of Excel Science Academy, the only school in the community, said most children come to school with cough, headache and stomach pain.

“We started the school three years ago because there was no school in the area,” she said. “The smoke is really affecting everybody, but we try to treat the children who always come with cough, headache and stomach pains.”

How ANRML Deceived The People To Take Over Their Farmland

According to the community leaders, ANRML took over 1000 hectares of their farmlands to site the steel production plant after negotiations and promises were made. The company promised to pay the farm owners an unstated annual monetary compensation plus construction of a hospital, school, boreholes and electricity.

But eight years later, none of the promises have been kept. There is 24-hour electricity at the facility, but the host community sleeps in darkness, lacks portable water and a health facility. They live in squalor and unsanitary conditions, not like people close to a modern state-of-the-art $600 million facility.

THE WHISTLER did not see any hospital, school or borehole provided by the company, even though the people are in dire need of those facilities. The only public primary school in the village is a dilapidated three-classroom block that was destroyed by a rainstorm years ago.

There is no medical facility in the community, and residents still have to travel several kilometres to access the nearest hospital at Tafa, a distance of about 15 kilometres.

“The company did not fulfil any of the promises it made to us,” alleged Allilu Madaki, a traditional leader who spoke in Hausa. He said they do not have safe drinking water because their wells are polluted and don’t bring out enough water.

The stream that used to be the only source of water has also been polluted. Villagers also claimed the company had dammed the water, and now it doesn’t flow as much.

All the community leaders who spoke to THE WHISTLER expressed similar views about how the company has failed in its corporate social responsibility, and how it continues to give the people false hope.

To buttress the point, Madaki recalled how the company brought a medical outreach to the community three months ago. “They asked us all to bring our phlegm for medical examination, and we all brought out our families to do it,” Madaki told THE WHISTLER. “But up till today, more than three months after, we have not heard anything again.”

The People Face Severe Health Dangers

Research has shown that communities around steel processing plants face severe health dangers, with the vulnerable population being children, the elderly, and those with pre-existing respiratory or cardiovascular conditions.

Black smoke from iron ore blast furnaces is a mixture of fine particulate matter, heavy metals, and toxic gases released during the smelting of iron ore, coke, and limestone. Exposure to this smoke presents significant, and in some cases, fatal health risks to workers and nearby residents.

Short-term exposure to iron oxide fumes can cause an acute, flu-like illness characterised by a metallic taste, fever, chills, chest tightness, and coughing.

The key dangers of long-term exposure include respiratory illnesses such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and exacerbated asthma; cardiovascular diseases like stroke or heart attack; and lung cancer.

Other risk includes long-term organ damage, including damage to the nervous system, liver, and kidneys.

Government Officials Unconcerned

There seems to be a conspiracy of silence at all levels of government over the travails of the host communities of ANRML, as no one has shown any interest in addressing their grievances.

The lawmaker representing Kagarko LG at the Kaduna State Assembly, Henry Danjuma, told THE WHISTLER that he had done everything to call attention to the travails of his constituents to no avail.

“The people are suffering greatly, and I have tried to call the attention of the company to the environmental degradation in the area,” he said during a telephone conversation.

He said he had also brought the matter to the attention of the Ministry of Environment and several top government officials after a state assembly resolution, but nothing changed.

On Thursday, September 6, 2024, two years after the ANRML started operations, the Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaibu Abubakar Audu, visited the company, but never visited the host communities to know what they’re going through.

His minister’s remarks during the visit were only commendation for the company for investing in Nigeria, and conveniently ignored the obvious environmental damage caused by the operations of the company.

In November last year, officials from the ministry held a capacity-building workshop and tour of the company site to learn about iron ore mining and steel processing sponsored by the ANRML.

Two directors who directly supervise the company were in attendance: the Director of the Raw Material Inspectorate, Metallurgical Development, and Environmental Protection, Engr. Frederick Ewa, and the Director of Raw Material Development and Investment Promotion, Mr Ime Ekrikpo.

Both directors had only praised ANRML for what it is doing to support the growth of Nigeria’s steel industry. Community leaders said the officials never took time off to visit the host communities- an oversight they alleged may be deliberate.

“We are grateful to the management and staff of ANRML for accepting us into your fold and showing us the things you are doing. Now, we have seen what you are doing, and it makes us see things better. I will say well done. I see a greater height of what you will attain, and we will give you all the support you require.

“As Director, I pledge to do everything within my power to ensure that ANRML succeeds in its operational activities,” said Engr Ewa after the event.

Attempts to get the response of the Federal Ministry of Steel Development on the issue were unsuccessful.

Mrs Zhema Jibaniya, director of public relations of the ministry, promised to discuss with Engr Ewa, who is the director in charge of metallurgical development and environmental protection, but never got back.

ANRML Keeps Mute

THE WHISTLER also tried to speak with Mr Narasimha Nayak, CEO, ANRML, but was told he was not available.

A message sent to the company’s WhatsApp number asked THE WHISTLER to drop any questions for the CEO. But when asked why the company has not fulfilled the promises made to its host communities, it took some time before the person replied with a question: “Have you really done your research?”

When told that THE WHISTLER had visited and toured the communities, there was no response again. Subsequent messages were not replied up till the time of posting this report.