Niger miners’ deaths: Committee recommends N1.4bn compensation and dismissal of personnel

An independent ministerial committee investigating the deaths of 33 people in NSCDC custody in Minna, Niger State, has recommended N1.4 billion in compensation for victims’ families and survivors. The report, presented in Abuja on Tuesday by committee chairman Jonathan Kure to Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, calls the deaths entirely preventable and recommends dismissing personnel directly responsible. It proposes N30 million for each of the 33 bereaved families and N10 million for each of the 41 survivors, alongside medical, psychological and educational support and a formal federal government apology. The committee attributed the deaths to asphyxiation after prolonged confinement in a severely overcrowded cell, worsened by heat and dehydration, and said the arrest operation lacked an order or approval from NSCDC national headquarters.