Local Conflicts Around Mining Activities in Ibise-Komu Community in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The conflict between the mining companies and the people of Ibise-Komu community of Oyo State has become perennial. The interventions to manage the conflict have also been continuously applied with limited success. This study is motivated by this background to better understand the dimensions of the miners-community conflict and analyze the immediate and remote causes of the conflict. To do this, the researcher visited the community and implemented a purposive random sampling technique to select 200 locals to participate in the study. A self-designed questionnaire was administered among all the respondents while only 20 of them participated in the semi-structured interview sessions. The empirical analysis was guided by frequency counts, percentages, descriptive statistics and logit regression. Findings revealed that the miners-community conflict has indeed become existential. While the community lays claim of ownership and control over the mineral deposits in their land, the behaviors of the miners seem to be in opposite of the perspectives of the general members of the community. In particular, the respondents argued that the miners recruit less of the indigenes in their mining activities, destroy their roads, pollute their environment and contribute minimally to the growth and development of the community. It follows that the solutions to the miners-community conflict should be addressed from the ends of the miners. This may be labelled with hurdles if the miners enjoy discriminatory backing of the government.