Governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola, yesterday, warned that mining activities will henceforth be regulated in the State adding that the form of regulation will soon be decided.
The governor was at Ifewara in Atakunmosa West local government, to see a huge landscape that has been degraded by illegal miners. He was also at Ibodi in the same local government.
After a tour of the illegal mining sites, Oyetola told newsmen that: “I am here to see things for myself. It is unfortunate that our land is being damaged and farming activity has been destroyed. With what I have seen, one cannot farm here again because the land has been seriously damaged.
“The grievous damage is the fact that the entire land space had been totally destroyed which hitherto could have been used for agricultural purposes and socio-economic development of our state.
“The whole environment has been polluted by dangerous chemicals applied to explore gold. These chemicals are not only dangerous for human being but hazardous to farming.
“Though it is important for us to explore the possibilities in mining, it must not be at the expense of the welfare and health of the people.
“Mining must be done with proper regulation, and in any case what is going here is purely illegal mining, they are destroying everywhere. So, I am here to prevent what happened in the Niger Delta from being replicated here.”
