The African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has offered to fund the education of Yusuf Aliyu, a teenage artisanal miner in Niger State whose account of the deaths of miners in the state has gone viral.
Atiku made the offer on Sunday while responding to a video of Aliyu speaking at a gold-mining site following the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners in the state.
“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,” Atiku said on X.
The former vice-president said he did not view Aliyu merely as an “illegal miner” but as a Nigerian child driven into artisanal mining by circumstance. He warned that the teenager’s public comments should not expose him or his family to intimidation or retaliation and urged that any contact be made through his family and appropriate child‑protection channels.
“I am prepared to support his education and ensure that the brilliance we have witnessed is not buried by poverty,” Atiku said.
In the video circulating online, Aliyu alleged that personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) had shot at miners at a gold-mining site in Niger State. He rejected the NSCDC’s initial explanation that the deaths were caused by a disease outbreak.
“We are under 18, and we are not allowed to be taken inside a cell. Heat cannot kill a gold miner,” he said, adding that he and other miners worked to support their families and pay their school fees.
“We are not into illegal mining. The Niger State Command of the NSCDC don’t have the right to shoot at us,” Aliyu said. “We are not illiterate. We are educated. We do this to help our parents. Our parents are very poor. We are the ones feeding our parents.”
Atiku used Aliyu’s account to question how communities sitting on gold deposits can remain impoverished and unable to provide educational opportunities for their children. He criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration for its handling of artisanal mining, contrasting it with the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMI) established under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“PAGMI was meant to register, train and integrate artisanal miners into the formal economy,” Atiku said. “Buhari sought to formalise; Tinubu appears to criminalise the poor.”
Atiku called on the federal government to explain the status of PAGMI in Niger State and to account for the deaths of the 37 miners. “Calling them ‘illegal miners’ cannot erase their humanity or excuse their deaths,” he said.
The miners were arrested during NSCDC operations in the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas of Niger State on September 15 and 16. The NSCDC initially attributed the deaths to a suspected disease outbreak, while survivors and witnesses have alleged overcrowding, poor ventilation, heat and dehydration contributed to the fatalities. The actual cause of death has not been established.
The Federal Government has set up a 10‑member independent committee to investigate the arrests, detention conditions and cause of death. The Niger State Government has also constituted a committee of inquiry, and the police are conducting investigations.
Atiku said the circumstances around Aliyu’s story should prompt broader questions about poverty, child labour and the management of Nigeria’s mineral resources. “The gold beneath their community should build classrooms and livelihoods, not graves,” he said.
