Press Release- Women in Mining Nigeria Engages Bauchi Stakeholders on Measures to Safeguard Women and Children

Press Release

Women in Mining Nigeria Engages Bauchi Stakeholders on Measures to Safeguard Women and Children

Bauchi – 13 April, 2023 – Women in Mining Nigeria, a foremost rights and advocacy group for women miners in Nigeria, is set to embark on a policy dialogue series in Bauchi tomorrow 13th of April 2023. The event, which has the theme “Safeguarding the Rights of Women and Children in the Solid Minerals Sector”, is being organised to come up with mechanisms and ideas that can help protect the rights of women and children within and around the mining sector.

The policy dialogue series, funded by the Open Society Foundation (OSF) and in collaboration with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), is a series of engagements that bring together relevant stakeholders in the mining, human rights, legal, security, and environmental sectors to boost interdisciplinary collaboration and engagements and find common grounds for ensuring women and children affected by the mining sector are protected.

Participants expected at the two-day dialogue in Bauchi include representatives of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Justice, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), legal practitioners, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), traditional rulers, and several other relevant stakeholders.

Speaking about the event, Engr Janet Adeyemi, President and Founder of Women in Mining Nigeria, said the policy dialogue series is one way to bring all concerned stakeholders under one roof and deliberate on issues that affect the safety and welfare of women and children in the mining sector and mining communities. “These are issues that have been neglected for so long, as we realised in our research carried out across the country.

“Women are subjected to all manners of abuse and their rights are violated along with those of their children. We have consistently sought ways to deal with these issues in recent years, and we’re glad that bodies such as OSF have heard us. This is also in line with their mandate, so we’re working together to ensure there are legal and policy structures to protect them from such treatment. We’re also encouraged by the collaboration we’re getting from the National Human Rights Commission and other bodies”, she said.

This is corroborated by the group’s Programme Manager, Deloraine Dennis, who emphasised the need to bring isolated efforts together. “Bauchi is a strategic mining state and there are underlying issues that must be addressed, especially as they affect women and children. With this dialogue, we can hear from different agencies and bodies, and collate their experiences and ideas, so that the resolutions from the meeting will be adequate to form policies that will address the issues before us”, noted Dennis.

Some of the papers to be presented tomorrow include; “Determining the Significance of Government Policies Protecting Women and Children in the Solid Minerals Sector in Bauchi State” by Sadiq Mohammed Adamu, a representative of the Bauchi State Ministry of Education and “Addressing Gender-based Violence and Harassment in the Solid Mineral Sector: The Role of Stakeholders” to be presented by Muhammad Sa’id, a Gender-based Violence Consultant and lecturer, Bauchi State College of Agriculture.

The Policy Dialogue series was initiated to understudy the plight of women and children associated with the mining sector in three states in the country, namely Ekiti, Kogi, and Bauchi, representing the Southern, Central, and Northern parts of Nigeria. The resolutions from such engagements will form useful components in policy actions by the government and development partners towards ensuring that the sector is safe and conducive for women to thrive.