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 the other way while mining activities escalated.
RDI gathered that the illegal mining activities systematically decimated the elephant, baboon and hyena population in the park, while the three communities with a population of about 800,000 lost their members to loose soil that usually gives way whenever they go to the farm.
The Jos Wildlife Park was established by Governor Joseph Gomwalk in 197 and is reputed as a place where nature has been conserved. It is one of the biggest natural/artificial zoological gardens/parks in the country. But all that has changed in the last decade.
Narrating their ordeal, the natives said illegal mining activities in the park and surrounding communities had the tacit support of corrupt government officials, who make money from the miners.
According to RDI Board member, Tobias Dapam, beyond the environmental hazards that locals face, the once-serene environment, which is a natural habitat of animals and visiting tourists, is now disturbed and noisy due to digging and other unsound environmental practices.
He said: “The locals now feel a heightened sense of insecurity 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.
She added: “The Plateau State government must immediately restore the park to its former glory by proscribing mining activities there and declaring the environment and surrounding communities’ disaster zones.”
Adediran explained that there is a need for a comprehensive environmental audit of the Jos Wildlife Park and environs, preparatory to their rehabilitation, even as she added that for this to happen, there is a need for consensus building among host communities on the need to stop the practice.
