Parents of artisanal miners who died while held in Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) custody in Minna, Niger State, are calling for compensation for bereaved families. The families say their children were detained after going to an artisanal mining site and that they were later informed of the deaths and asked to identify bodies at a hospital.
Reports describe parents grieving children who had been supporting them financially, including Musa Aliyu, whose 17-year-old Ibrahim and 12-year-old Abubakar died. Aliyu says his sons were his main source of help for medications and recalls that his wife learned of the detention after relatives gathered at an NSCDC office. Another parent, Lawal Mohammad, says his 15-year-old son Suleiman was denied access to food on the day of the arrest and was declared dead when the family returned the next morning.
While both outlets focus on compensation and accountability, the narratives differ mainly in the parents’ accounts of access to the detained children and the circumstances leading to death. Both urge investigations into what happened and accountability for those responsible.
