{"id":6609,"date":"2025-08-24T16:49:03","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T16:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/?p=6609"},"modified":"2025-08-24T16:49:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T16:49:03","slug":"mining-site-collapseebonyi-govt-commences-probe-refutes-negligence-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/2025\/08\/24\/mining-site-collapseebonyi-govt-commences-probe-refutes-negligence-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Mining site collapse:Ebonyi govt. Commences probe, refutes negligence claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">By Our Correspondent<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Ebonyi Government has commenced investigation into the collapse of a mining pit in Ihietutu, Ishiagu, Ivo Local Government Area of the state.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The state Commissioner for Solid Minerals, Mr Chidi Onyia disclosed this at the site during a fact finding mission with federal mines officers and security agencies.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Daily Echoes Media gathered that two persons lost their lives, while three were injured when the mining site collapsed last Friday.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Reports in some quarters alleged negligence on the part of the Company, Greenfield Metals Ltd., but the commissioner said preliminary investigation suggests natural occurrence.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u201cMining, like many industries worldwide, comes with hazards.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;From our preliminary findings, this was a natural occurrence and not a result of negligence.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;Investigation is ongoing by all regulatory bodies, including the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals, police, Department of State Services, and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, to ensure transparency.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u201cIf we find recklessness, we will act accordingly. But if it is a natural disaster, we must accept it as such,\u201d Onyia said.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">He therefore commiserated with the bereaved families, while debunking reports that the site was parcelled out for illegal miners.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The commissioner urged the public not to worsen the grief of families with false claims, emphasising that the state does not encourage illegal mining and fully respects licenses issued by the federal government.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Meanwhile,Prince Fabian Chukwu, one of the community leaders, and Board of Trustees Chairman, Ihietutu Development Union, said the company had empowered a lot of people in the community.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;They built the road to this site and never delayed in giving the community its due entitlements.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">&#8220;That is why we stand by them in this unfortunate incident.\u201d<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The company had since suspended operations at the site pending the outcome of investigations.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Our Correspondent Ebonyi Government has commenced investigation into the collapse of a mining pit in Ihietutu, Ishiagu, Ivo Local Government Area of the state. The state Commissioner for Solid Minerals, Mr Chidi Onyia disclosed this at the site during a fact finding mission with federal mines officers and security agencies. Daily Echoes Media gathered [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[2279,4209,2357,3589,3404,911,1448,2354],"class_list":["post-6609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-crime","tag-collapse","tag-commenced-investigation","tag-empowered","tag-encourage","tag-entitlements","tag-illegal","tag-operations","tag-suspended"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6610,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6609\/revisions\/6610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}