Minna custody deaths renew calls to formalise Nigeria’s artisanal mining sector

The deaths of 37 Nigerians in state custody in Minna, Niger State, have intensified debate over Nigeria’s treatment of artisanal miners and the enforcement of mining regulations. The men had been arrested on suspicion of illegal mining. According to an opinion article published by Premium Times, three survivors said security personnel sprayed a substance into an overcrowded cell and left the doors locked as detainees began struggling to breathe.

Dauda Shehu, one of the survivors, told Reuters that the substance smelled like perfume and that people began dying hours later. The source material says the authorities suspended some senior officials, condemned the deaths and established an independent inquiry. The article argues that the deaths exposed the consequences of an enforcement system focused on raids and detention rather than on formalising artisanal mining.

It calls for licences designed for small-scale miners, safety instruction, geological information, equipment-leasing schemes, mineral-buying centres and environmental compliance. Artisanal and small-scale mining is described as an informal sector in which workers use basic tools to extract minerals including gold, tin, cobalt, lithium, diamonds and gemstones. The sector provides livelihoods for people in communities where unemployment is high and agricultural returns are limited.

The article says the same minerals extracted by informal workers are increasingly important to global industries, including technology, energy, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence. It also points to growing international competition for critical minerals, including activity by China, the United States and private companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The author argues that suspected regulatory violations do not remove the state’s responsibility to provide humane detention, adequate space, air, water, medical care and timely judicial processing.

The Minna deaths are presented as both a mining-safety issue and a test of Nigeria’s rule of law. The source also cites other fatal incidents involving Nigerian miners in 2026, including deaths reportedly linked to toxic gas in Plateau State and the collapse of an unsupported pit in Bokkos. It concludes that enforcement without viable legal routes risks displacing poverty rather than ending illegal extraction.