14/04/2024
GUZA (TIN MINING) THE BLOODY CASH COW OF BOKKOS,BARKIN-LADI & MANGU IN PLATEAU STATE.
_By Mashat Alfred Makut_
I remembered in the early 90's anytime there is a long vacation from school,my father used to take me and my siblings to the village in Dares Mandar, Butura District of Bokkos Local Government in Plateau State to holiday with our grandparents and our clan so that we can learn the Ron native language and to acclimatise with the weather.
From Barkin Ladi to Bokkos all the way to Mangu ,as you journey through these local Governments you will see ponds of 'Guza' (known as Tin mining in Hausa language) excavated a long time ago and abandoned.
During the holidays while in the village in Dares, my uncles will take us out to the rocks,mountains and river paths with rocks to scoop for Guza, all we needed as tools for the job is a calabash and a spoon, after scooping the Guza we will go to a near bye stream and wash it with water and later take it to Tenti, a nearby commercial village to sell off our Guza in exchange of some cool money to buy some provisions.
The mining economy of the Jos Plateau was run by an essentially migrant population (Sha, 1994). The tin mines attracted large numbers of petty traders from Eastern and Western Nigeria. There was also an influx of northerners, some of whom came to utilize the abandoned mining pits for fadama or dry season farming. With the growing number of people in the city, facilities were established to meet transport and communication needs; for example, a rail line was extended to Jos from Zaria in 1913 and the Port Harcourt – Enugu rail line was extended to Jos in 1927 linking the coal and tin mining regions.
During the 1980s, social and natural disasters forced many people to migrate to Jos and its environs. Particular reference is made to the rinderpest cattle epidemic and the Sahelian drought of 1983-84, in which many herds of cattle died; and two decades of religious conflicts beginning from 1980, e.g., the Maitatsine Movement (Sokomba, 1986). The drought sparked off an exodus of cattle rearers and pastoralists from the far north who brought their cattle to graze near the mining ponds. The religious upheaval was particularly disturbing between 1980 and 1996 and forced many people to migrate to places like Jos.
In March 1986, violent clashes between Christian and Muslim youths in Kafanchan spread to some major northern cities like Kaduna, Zaria, Sokoto and Gombe. As most of these towns are close to Jos, a good proportion of the victims, mainly Christians and animists, added to the population of Jos by fleeing there. Bako (1994) has documented other categories of urban violence that have had an impact on the social landscape of Jos. These conflicts have had a considerable impact on the settlement of Jos and its environs.
The resurgence of attacks on the Plateau from 2001and the o**y of violence has crippled economic activities in the state,the renewed attacks by Fulani Militia Herdsmen has affected farming activities in Bokkos,Barkin -Ladi and Mangu , yet this 3 Guza producing LGAs have become the worst hit in recent years.
GUZA has become a new found cash cow amongst the youths of these LGAs, however it is illegal Tin mining as there is no professionalism in the way the ponds are dug, hundreds of Plateau citizens most especially the Youths and Women involved in digging the ponds for pounds of Guza have died as the ponds caved in to bury them alive in the quest to scoop more Guza underneath the earth.
So many youths in these LGAs have now found a modern day business that brings fast money, even though locals are worried that the Guza money ends up in beer parlours,breeds prostitution and some cases leads to polygamy, instead of the youths to use the loot form Guza to safeguard their lands threatened to be forcefullly grabbed by Fulani Militia Herdsmen.
The struggle for the scarce Guza resources, has taken a new dimension as reported during the Christmas eve, Christmas day and boxing day massacre of about 500 people in Bokkos,Barkin Ladi and Mangu, eye witness reports has it that after the people were sacked from their villages, Fulanis were seen at the Guza sites digging ponds to scoop some Guza pounds. in a raid after the report, The DPO of Bokkos Local Government seized some machine pumps and other tools from the Fulani youths that disappeared from the Guza sites on siting the Police Van with men of the force on a raid of the ponds days after the attacks in the Local Government.
There are some reports that some security men are hired sometimes to protect the ponds from attacks by Fulani Herdsmen and gun men who have locals as accomplice, a former hose of Assembly Member, Honorable Yusuf Muchen, recently lost his life as he relocated to his village to manage a family land that has Guza ponds.
There are similar reports alleging that some of the security operatives sometimes pay for ponds to also scoop the Guza as business men.
It is now evident that the terrorism in Bokkos, Barkin Ladi and Mangu can also be linked to the quest for a booming illegal Tin Mining (Guza) syndicate.
It is therefore expedient on Government to be proactive to set up a Guza Task force in place to ensure that it is the original owners of the land that are in charge of the Tin mining and not land grabbers , the Operation Rainbow security outfit can be engaged to provide Security Cover at mining sites.
The Government should dust up the anti- land grabbing law in place to ensure that all lands grabbed are retrieved and those displaced return to their ancestral lands immediately.
Government can regulate and bring in more revenue for the State and legitimizing the Guza business by making all pond owners register before any mining site is approved to ensure best practices so that ponds do not take lives abruptly.
Years of illegal Tin mining has also affected the environment in a bad manner causing erosion and other degradations.
The Terrorism in Bokkos, Mangu and Barkin Ladi is in no doubt all about Land grabbing, ethnic cleansing,the fertile land for farming and cow grazing, but most recently it is also about the Guza Cash Cow and myriads of minerals that are buried under the blessed land of Plateau.
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