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Police in Nigeria have launched an investigation after 37 suspected illegal miners died in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Minna the capital of Niger State. The men were detained during raids on mining sites in the Wushishi-Lukoto area on September 15 and 16 according to a statement issued by the NSCDC commandant for the state Suberu Siyaka Aniviye. The agency initially attributed the deaths discovered early the next morning to a suspected disease outbreak but later acknowledged that medical examinations would determine the actual cause.
Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago described the incident as sad and tragic during a press conference on September 18 and confirmed that Aniviye had been suspended to facilitate an independent inquiry. This morning we woke up to the news that about 37 persons died in the custody of the civil defence here in Minna Bago told reporters while announcing three days of mourning and the postponement of election campaign activities set to begin ahead of polls in January. The interior minister ordered the suspension Reuters reported as protests broke out in the city overnight requiring deployment of additional security personnel.
A survivor named Dauda Shehu told The Associated Press that 65 detainees had been held in one cell with almost no ventilation suggesting they suffocated. We were jampacked and there was no ventilation for us to breathe well Shehu said. An intelligence report shared with AFP reached a similar conclusion by citing overcrowding and poor ventilation in the facility rather than disease as the likely cause of the fatalities.
Niger State attracts thousands of artisanal miners because of its gold deposits according to an AFP account that noted how competition for resources has helped fuel violence by criminal gangs known as bandits who tax operators at illegal sites. A 2025 report by the National Assembly Library Trust Fund identified unregulated mining zones in north-central states including Niger as fertile ground for armed groups that impose protection fees and use proceeds to buy weapons. The overlap between such sites and banditry incidents has worsened insecurity and displaced communities in the region according to the document.
An analysis of reports from multiple Nigerian outlets compiled by Tekedia found that more than 200 people died in artisanal mining accidents across the country between 2015 and 2025 with pit collapses responsible for over 80 percent of the fatalities. The review highlighted 2025 as particularly deadly because of a Zamfara State collapse feared to have killed around 100 miners and a Boko Haram attack on a gold mining site that claimed 11 lives. These statistics underline the broader risks tied to weak regulation and hazardous conditions in the informal sector beyond the custody incident.
A joint study by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice estimated that Nigeria loses nearly $9 billion each year through illegal mining smuggling and related illicit flows with foreign buyers exerting substantial control over pricing and exports. The formal mining sector contributed less than 1 percent of gross domestic product in 2023 despite the nation’s endowment of at least 44 commercial minerals the assessment found. Enforcement operations by mining marshals have resulted in the closure of almost 100 illicit sites and the arrest of more than 320 suspects in the past year according to government figures.
The NSCDC national headquarters has assembled a high-powered panel headed by a deputy commandant-general to investigate the circumstances of the deaths its public relations officer Babawale Afolabi said in a statement. Parallel probes by state police have urged relatives of the deceased to come forward with any information that could assist. Shafatu Sulaiman who lost two sons told journalists at the hospital that she hoped authorities would ensure accountability for the tragedy an Africanews dispatch reported.
