NSCDC Miners’ Deaths: FG Receives Report Recommending ₦1.4bn Compensation for 33 Families
The Federal Government has received an investigative report recommending N1.4 billion in compensation for the families of 33 suspected illegal miners who died while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State.
The panel also recommended the prosecution of officers found culpable in the deaths, alongside a comprehensive review of the security agency’s leadership and operational procedures.
Politics Nigeria reported that the recommendations followed an investigation into the September 27 incident, which triggered public outrage and raised concerns about the treatment of detainees in security facilities.
The investigative committee, chaired by Jonathan Kure, a former Deputy Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), submitted its report to the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, in Abuja on Tuesday.
The panel was constituted at the directive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to establish the circumstances surrounding the deaths and identify any negligence, misconduct or operational failures that contributed to the tragedy.
Presenting the report, Kure said the investigation established that the deaths could have been prevented.
He attributed the incident to overcrowding, inadequate detention facilities, poor supervision and the failure of officers to respond appropriately to distress signals from the detainees.
According to the committee, the victims died from acute respiratory failure after prolonged confinement in a severely overcrowded and poorly ventilated cell. Heat stress and dehydration were also identified as factors that aggravated the situation.
“The committee concluded that the incident was a preventable custodial tragedy caused by severe overcrowding, unlawful and unsuitable detention conditions, failure of duty of care, disregard of repeated distress warnings, inadequate supervision, and wider systemic deficiencies.”
The panel also dismissed the suggestion that a disease outbreak was responsible for the deaths.
Panel Rules Out Disease Outbreak as Cause of Miners’ Deaths
According to the investigative findings, medical and forensic evidence pointed to the conditions inside the detention facility as the cause of the fatalities.
“The evidence did not support claims that the death resulted from a disease outbreak. Available medical and forensic evidence instead indicated that the fatalities resulted from an environmental aphasia, an acute respiratory failure caused by prolonged confinement in a severely overcrowded and poorly ventilated detention cell, aggravated by heat stress and dehydration.”
The findings contradicted the initial explanation provided by the Niger State Command of the NSCDC, which had attributed the deaths to a suspected disease outbreak while awaiting medical examinations to determine the actual cause.
The committee said it reviewed and cross-checked evidence obtained from multiple independent sources to reconstruct the sequence of events that led to the deaths and establish the responsibilities of the officers involved.
Its investigation traced the incident to enforcement operations targeting suspected illegal mining activities in and around Minna, the Niger State capital.
The deceased were among dozens of individuals arrested in the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas during operations carried out on September 15 and 16.
Investigation Identifies Operational Failures Within NSCDC
The report raised concerns about the authorisation of the enforcement operation, revealing that investigators found no evidence that an operational order had been issued or approval obtained from the NSCDC national headquarters.
The committee also identified failures involving senior officers responsible for the operation, the conditions in which the suspects were detained, the supervision of personnel and the handling of repeated distress calls from detainees.
According to the panel, accountability for the incident extended beyond the officers who directly participated in the arrests and detention of the suspects.
It maintained that the leadership of the Niger State Command could not be absolved of responsibility for the lapses uncovered during the investigation.
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Consequently, the committee recommended the dismissal of the Niger State Commandant of the NSCDC and other officers whose actions or failures were found to have directly contributed to the deaths.
The panel further called for the prosecution of personnel against whom sufficient evidence exists to support criminal charges.
The recommendations place renewed scrutiny on the NSCDC’s detention practices, operational oversight and the responsibility of security officials to protect individuals in their custody.
