By Joyce Ekeh
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has offered to support the education of Yusuf Aliyu, a Nigerian child whose video from a gold-mining community has attracted widespread attention, saying the boy’s intelligence and confidence should not be buried by poverty.
Atiku who posted this on his X handle said he had watched Aliyu’s video repeatedly and was deeply moved by what he described as the child’s intelligence, clarity and confidence.
According to him, the boy should be in a classroom building his future rather than struggling for survival in a community surrounded by gold but trapped in poverty.
“I cannot look at him and see an ‘illegal miner.’ I see a Nigerian child failed by the country that should have protected him. I see brilliance trapped by poverty and enormous promise abandoned by leadership,” Atiku said.
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He appealed specifically for Aliyu’s safety, warning that the child’s courage should not expose him or his family to intimidation or retaliation.
Atiku said he was prepared to support the boy’s education and ensure that his potential was not lost to poverty.
“His courage must not expose him or his family to intimidation or retaliation. I am prepared to support his education and ensure that the brilliance we have witnessed is not buried by poverty,” he said.
He, however, stressed that any effort to reach the child should be handled responsibly through his family and appropriate child-protection channels.
Atiku said the video had also raised fundamental questions about poverty in Nigeria’s mineral-producing communities, particularly how communities endowed with valuable resources could remain unable to provide basic opportunities for their children.
“How can a community sitting upon gold remain so poor that it cannot educate its children? How can its wealth leave the soil while hunger and deprivation remain in its homes?” he asked.
He described the situation as an indictment of the administration of President Bola Tinubu, arguing that although the Federal Government controls Nigeria’s mineral resources, communities where the resources are extracted continue to face poverty and limited opportunities.
Atiku also contrasted the current approach to artisanal mining with the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative, PAGMI, established under former President Muhammadu Buhari to register, train and integrate artisanal miners into the formal economy.
He noted that Niger State was among the states covered by the initiative, arguing that the Tinubu administration inherited the framework.
“Buhari saw people to formalise. Tinubu sees poor people to criminalise,” he said.
Atiku said Aliyu’s story demonstrated the consequences of poverty and the failure to provide opportunities for children in resource-rich communities.
“This boy is evidence against the Tinubu government. His intelligence exposes the opportunities it has failed to provide. His poverty exposes the injustice of Nigeria’s mining economy. His presence at that site exposes an administration that has left brilliant children without a ladder out of deprivation,” he said.
He also demanded an explanation of what became of PAGMI in Niger State and questioned the circumstances surrounding the death of 37 Nigerians in the custody of a federal agency.
“The government must explain what became of PAGMI in Niger State and how 37 Nigerians died in the custody of a federal agency. Calling them ‘illegal miners’ cannot erase their humanity or excuse their deaths,” Atiku said.
The former vice president said he would continue to speak for children caught in poverty, stressing that their future was tied to the future of the country.
“As a father, a grandfather and a Nigerian, I refuse to look away. I will continue to speak for these children because their lives matter, their dreams matter and their future belongs to Nigeria.”
He added: “The gold beneath their community should build classrooms and livelihoods, not graves.”
