Nigeria drove thousands of gold miners from a national park. But can it keep them out?
A military-backed operation in July shut the Kila gold mine in Nigeria's Gashaka-Gumti National Park, which more than 4,000 miners had used, according to the conservation group Africa Nature Investors Foundation.
A military-backed operation closed the Kila gold mining site in Gashaka-Gumti National Park, Nigeria's largest national park, in July. The Africa Nature Investors (ANI) Foundation, which works with the government to manage the park, said more than 4,000 miners left the site.
ANI executive director Tunde Morakinyo said the miners had already fled by the time soldiers reached Kila, near the park's northern boundary, and that no shots were fired. Bulldozers then filled the mining pits and shafts. Ibrahim Musa Goni, conservator-general of the National Park Service, said the governors of Adamawa and Taraba states backed the effort alongside the military and ANI, which provided financial and technical help. ANI said it also helped close a second mine at Bodel, in the park's southern sector.
The park, created in 1991, covers 6,731 square kilometers (2,599 square miles) along the border with Cameroon. It is a stronghold for the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee and has more than 1,000 plant species. Morakinyo said two rangers were killed by miners in October 2025, and Goni confirmed the deaths. Mongabay could not verify whether the killings directly prompted the operation.
Goni called the closure a success but did not rule out a return of the miners. Rangers now monitor Kila and nearby buffer areas, using intelligence from local vigilantes. "There is a tendency the miners might come back in a different way," he said.
Former miners and residents told Mongabay the mine had supported food sellers, traders and others as well as diggers. Village head Iliyasu Jussaini said some residents now carry passengers by motorcycle and others have gone to new mining sites. Musa Yuguda, 40, said he would prefer farming or motorcycle transport, and that other miners moved elsewhere in Nigeria or into Cameroon. Adamu Salihu, 21, said he has no job and wants help starting a business.
ANI employs more than 180 rangers and supports farming, livestock, microfinance and education projects, and it is building a school in Kila. Goni credited the group with supporting some 1,200 farmers. No Kila-specific transition plan, funding or timeline was provided. "We're still building the park," Morakinyo said.
Note: The headline says the miners were driven out, but the page says they had already fled before soldiers arrived and that no shots were fired.
At a Glance
- More than 4,000 miners left the Kila site in Gashaka-Gumti National Park, according to the ANI Foundation.
- Soldiers entered Kila in July 2026, and bulldozers filled the mining pits and shafts.
- Gashaka-Gumti covers 6,731 square kilometers (2,599 square miles) across Adamawa and Taraba states.
- ANI said it employs more than 180 rangers and helped close a second mine at Bodel.
- No Kila-specific livelihood transition plan, funding or timeline was provided, according to Mongabay.
Sources
This brief was written by Brightside Report from the reporting linked above. Spot an error? Request a correction.