BREAKING: PROBE PANEL BLAMES MINERS’ DEATHS ON OVERCROWDING, EXTREME HEAT, DEHYDRATION

An independent ministerial committee has linked the deaths of 33 people in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Minna, Niger State, to severe overcrowding, heat stress and dehydration.

The committee’s chairman, Jonathan Kure, presented its report to the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, in Abuja on Tuesday.

According to the report’s executive summary, the detainees died from environmental asphyxia after prolonged confinement in a severely overcrowded cell, with extreme heat and dehydration worsening the conditions.

The panel also identified unsuitable detention conditions, inadequate supervision and a failure of duty of care.

Beyond the conditions in custody, the committee found that the operation that led to the arrests was carried out without an operational order or approval from the NSCDC’s national headquarters.

The findings point to failures in both the authorisation of the operation and the treatment of those detained.