Community Groans As Osun Govt, Segilola Flex Muscles Over Gold Mine

• Segilola Will Remain Sealed Till Company Fulfils Obligation – Adeleke

Residents of Iperindo, Atakumosa East local government area of Osun State, host of Segilola Resources Operating Limited (SROL) have continued to lament the excruciating effect of mining activities in the area.

OSUN DEFENDER reports that the residents, who are predominantly farmers are groaning under environmental degradation occasioned by mining activities in the community.

A resident of the community, Mr. Segun Alabi, while speaking to newsmen expressed concern over the rate of environmental degradation in the area, adding that their farmlands have been turned to mining sites thereby making economic survival difficult.

Alabi stressed the need for the community to feel the positive impact of the huge amount generated from their community in terms of infrastructure and social amenities.

He opined that the road link to Iperindo is deplorable, saying the bulk of money realised by government on resources God endowed them with is being diverted to the development of urban centres.

“The effect of the mining activities in this community is worrisome. As the host community, we ought to be benefitting from the proceeds of mining but reverse is the case.

“We are farmers and we can no longer go to our farms. Our lands have been turned to mining sites. We do not have clean water to drink. We go far distances to access potable water. We ought to be benefitting from the huge amount of money realised by the government.\

READ: Segilola Mining Company Remains Sealed Until Obligations Are Met – Adeleke Tells FG

“Instead of both federal and state governments to look after our wellbeing, they are busy fighting themselves over the control of the mining sector.”

OSUN DEFENDER reports that Osun State Government had in January this year announced that SROL has agreed to reconstruct the dilapidated Iperindo – Ilesa road.

A statement by the spokesperson to Governor Ademola Adeleke, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, indicated that the road reconstruction was part of an agreement reached between the government and the firm at a business meeting.

The statement reads partly, “In a business meeting with the Managing Director, Segun Lawson and his team on Monday, Governor Adeleke disclosed details of the agreement reached with the Segilola Resources Operating Limited, announcing Hon Kazeem Akinleye, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, as the representative of Osun state on the board of Segilola firm.

“The firm has agreed to reconstruct the Iperindo – Ilesa road and expand scholarship to youth within its operating communities.”

Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, earlier in the week inaugurated a fact-finding team in the heat of the face-off between Osun State Government and Segilola Resources Operating Limited (SROL).

Segilola Will Remain Sealed Till Company Fulfils Obligation – Adeleke

At a meeting between both parties and the federal government team in Osogbo on Wednesday, Governor Adeleke reaffirmed that the company will remain sealed until it fulfils its lawful obligations on shareholding, tax evasion and environmental degradation.

Adeleke, represented by his deputy, Prince Kola Adewusi explained that the claims of the state government against the mining company do not in any way constitute an infringement on its rights, as he noted that the government is not asking for royalty taxes but what is fundamentally due to the state as stipulated by the laws.

Earlier in his remarks, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Solid Minerals and Mining, Professor Lukman Jimoda, revealed that the company has always reneged on its promises to remit its Pay As You Earn taxes (PAYE) on its staff for the past 18 months, as it prefers to run to Abuja whenever the call arises.

Prof. Jimoda also frowned at the failure of the company to pay any dividend on the over N5.1 million shares the state government has with it.

READ: Segilola Gets Interim Injunction Against Osun Govt

He therefore urged the fact-finding team to wade in by ensuring that the 3.2 billion naira withholding taxes together with the accumulated unpaid dividends owed by the company are remitted into the coffers of the State Government as quickly as possible.

Also speaking at the meeting, the Ogboni of Ipole, Oba Oyebade Oyele who doubles as the Chairman, Ijesa South Council of Obas, where Segilola Mining Company operates, said that no state in the country can tolerate what the company has been doing in Osun State for the past seven years.

Responding, the leader of the delegation from the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Imam Ganiyu, appreciated the stance of the state government on the raised issues. He maintained that it is incumbent on the company to fulfil all its obligations to the state.

He then assured that the issues will be resolved amicably without any further delay.