Her sweat-soaked face bore the furrows of sorrow as she struggled to explain the circumstances that led to her separation from her husband after relocating to the Opa mining site located some 30 kilometers away from the headquarters of Nasarawa Local Government Area.
Clearing the perspiration that formed on her forehead and cascaded down her cheeks with her forefinger, Grace Emmanuel, 38, also ‘justified’ why she quit her job as an auxiliary nurse to venture into mining.
“As a nurse, my earnings could barely take care of my family needs. My husband was an inspector (of police) who was at the time transferred to Lokoja. But he cared less about me and our five children; he never sent money for our upkeep. I was facing many challenges when I heard about this mining camp and decided to come here.
“I started combining mining here with my job, but when I realised that what I was earning here was thrice my salary as a nurse, I decided to quit my job. I eventually became a dealer in mining, in addition to sponsoring some pits,” she said.
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But her newfound “glory” was not without new challenges. “Disaster struck sometime last year in the form of a mysterious fire outbreak that razed down this place and affected almost everybody. Before then, this place used to be a beehive of activities. The population was unprecedented. Apart from mining, there were several other businesses that took place, such as food vending.
“But with the fire incident, everything changed, and we have since been struggling to pick up again,” she said.
Read more: https://dailytrust.com/inside-nasarawa-dreadful-mining-camps/
