MINNA, Niger State — Across mining communities in Niger State, poverty is pulling children out of school and into hazardous artisanal gold pits, where many spend their days digging, hauling ore, and risking injury or d3ath instead of learning.
Fifteen-year-old Musa began mining gold around Minna when he was about 10. Five years later, he is no longer in school. “I want to go back to school, but there is no money to send me,” he told reporters recently.
His story is repeated by others, including 14-year-old Hassan, whose family moved from Kano to Minna more than two years ago. Hassan has spent most of that time at mining sites rather than in a classroom.
In parts of Shiroro Local Government Area, including communities around Kuta, school principals report classrooms growing emptier as children chase the immediate cash that gold offers.
Some parents openly question the value of keeping children in school when daily survival is uncertain and formal employment after graduation is far from guaranteed. Mining income, they say, helps put food on the table and sometimes covers fees for siblings still attending classes.
Governor Umaru Bago has publicly raised the alarm. In a recent interview, he described gold mining as having become “habitual” in some communities and difficult to reverse because of the financial returns it provides.
He cited a UNICEF projection warning that by 2027, some affected communities could have no children left in Junior Secondary School 1 (Grade 7) because so many had abandoned classrooms for artisanal mining. “This is a problem for us,” Bago said, calling for more decisive intervention.
The practice is widespread in areas such as Farindoki, Ajata Aboki, Gurmata, and parts of Minna and surrounding settlements. Children as young as 10 to 15 have been observed at sites, performing tasks that include digging pits, breaking rocks, transporting ore, and processing material.
Earnings vary but can reach several thousand naira on a productive day—money that often goes straight to family needs. Girls are also involved, sometimes alongside brothers and sisters, in communities where gold mining has become a primary household coping strategy.
These activities expose children to serious dangers: unstable pits that collapse, dust and toxic chemicals, heavy loads, extreme heat, and the risk of accidents with adult equipment. Past incidents, including fatal pit collapses in Shiroro communities, have claimed young lives. Officials and observers classify much of this work as hazardous child labour, prohibited under Nigerian law, yet enforcement remains weak in remote or informal sites.
Poverty is the dominant driver. Families facing hunger, limited formal jobs, the effects of insecurity that has disrupted farming and closed schools in some areas, and the high cost of education turn to mining as one of the few available options.
National and state data show Niger State has long struggled with high numbers of out-of-school children—previously estimated in the hundreds of thousands—while child labour rates in Nigeria remain elevated, with millions of children engaged in hazardous work.
The issue has drawn renewed attention following the recent deaths of dozens of suspected illegal miners while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Minna. The incident, which sparked protests and an official investigation, has highlighted the broader vulnerabilities of those working in the informal mining sector, including minors.
State and federal authorities have acknowledged the problem. Officials have described children’s participation as child labour that must be addressed. Efforts have included budget allocations for education and child-protection measures, awareness campaigns, and calls for better regulation of artisanal mining. Neighbouring states have also moved to ban under-18s from mining sites. Yet in Niger State’s gold-rich communities, the economic pull remains strong.
For many of the children involved, the choice is stark: the classroom or the pit. Without reliable alternatives that ease household poverty and make education both accessible and worthwhile, the cycle continues—robbing a generation of learning while trapping them in one of the most dangerous forms of child labour.
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