Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has expressed concern over the plight of a teenage artisanal miner, Yusuf Aliyu, saying he is deeply affected whenever he watches a viral video of the boy speaking from a mining site in Niger State following the deaths of 37 miners.
In a statement shared on his X handle on Sunday, Atiku said he was willing to support Aliyu’s education, arguing that the teenager’s intelligence and confidence should be developed in a classroom rather than through labour at a mining site.
“I have watched Yusuf Aliyu’s video repeatedly, and each time, my heart breaks. A child with such intelligence, clarity and confidence should be in a classroom building his future—not struggling for survival in a community surrounded by gold but buried in poverty.
“I cannot look at him and see an ‘illegal miner.’ I see a Nigerian child failed by the country that should have protected him. I see brilliance trapped by poverty and enormous promise abandoned by leadership,” the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate said.
The former vice president also appealed for measures to protect the teenager, warning that his public comments should not put him or his family at risk of threats or retaliation.
“I appeal specifically for his safety. His courage must not expose him or his family to intimidation or retaliation. I am prepared to support his education and ensure that the brilliance we have witnessed is not buried by poverty,” Atiku said.
“Any effort to reach him must be handled responsibly through his family and appropriate child-protection channels.”
Aliyu, who spoke to News Central Television in a video that has circulated widely online, alleged that officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps had fired at miners at a gold mining location in Niger State.
The teenager also challenged the NSCDC’s initial account that a disease outbreak was responsible for the deaths of suspected illegal miners held in its custody.
“We are under 18, and we are not allowed to be taken inside a cell. Heat cannot kill a gold miner.
“We are not into illegal mining. The Niger State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps don’t have the right to shoot at us.
“We are not illiterate. We are educated. We do this to help our parents in one or two. Our parents are very poor. We are the ones feeding our parents. It is what we do here that we can pay our school fees,” the teenager said.
Atiku said Aliyu’s account also highlighted broader concerns about poverty and the management of Nigeria’s mineral wealth.
“But this video raises a question that should trouble the conscience of every Nigerian: how can a community sitting upon gold remain so poor that it cannot educate its children? How can its wealth leave the soil while hunger and deprivation remain in its homes?”
“This is an indictment of the Tinubu administration. The Federal Government controls Nigeria’s mineral resources, yet the communities producing that wealth remain without schools, opportunities or protection.”
Atiku further criticised the Federal Government’s approach to artisanal mining, contrasting it with the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative introduced under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The contrast is revealing. President Buhari established PAGMI to register, train and integrate artisanal miners into the formal economy, with Niger State included among its intervention states. Tinubu inherited that framework but has met these vulnerable citizens with raids, detention and the label ‘illegal miners.’”
“Buhari saw people to formalise. Tinubu sees poor people to criminalise.”
The former vice president added, “This boy is evidence against the Tinubu government. His intelligence exposes the opportunities it has failed to provide. His poverty exposes the injustice of Nigeria’s mining economy. His presence at that site exposes an administration that has left brilliant children without a ladder out of deprivation.”
He called for clarification from the Federal Government on the status of PAGMI in Niger State and the circumstances that led to the deaths of the 37 suspected illegal miners while in NSCDC custody.
“The government must explain what became of PAGMI in Niger State and how 37 Nigerians died in the custody of a federal agency. Calling them ‘illegal miners’ cannot erase their humanity or excuse their deaths.”
The deaths followed the arrest of suspected illegal miners during NSCDC operations in the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas of Niger State on September 15 and 16.
The NSCDC initially said the deaths were connected to a suspected disease outbreak. However, survivors alleged that overcrowding, inadequate ventilation, excessive heat and dehydration contributed to the deaths.
The definitive cause of death has not yet been established. The Federal Government has set up a 10-member independent committee to investigate the incident, including the circumstances surrounding the arrests and detention as well as the cause of the deaths.
The Niger State Government has also established a committee of inquiry, while the police are conducting a separate investigation.
Atiku concluded, “As a father, a grandfather and a Nigerian, I refuse to look away. I will continue to speak for these children because their lives matter, their dreams matter and their future belongs to Nigeria.
“The gold beneath their community should build classrooms and livelihoods, not graves.”