The Federal Government’s committee probing the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State has blamed the incident on suffocation caused by overcrowding and poor ventilation.
The panel also recommended the dismissal and prosecution of officers found culpable.
Committee chairman and former Deputy Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Jonathan Kure, disclosed the findings on Tuesday while submitting the report to the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, in Abuja.
Kure said investigations established that the detainees died of environmental asphyxia, aggravated by heat and dehydration.
The report listed the causes of death as “overcrowding, unsuitable detention condition, failure of duty of care, inadequate supervision.”
It stated that the deaths “resulted from environmental asphyxia caused by prolonged confinement in a severely overcrowded cell aggravated by heat stress and dehydration.”
The committee further found that the operation that led to the arrest of the suspects was carried out without an operational order or approval from the NSCDC national headquarters.
The 37 detainees died on September 17, 2026, at the NSCDC Niger State Command in Minna. They were among those arrested during an operation against suspected illegal mining in the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas of the state.
Following the incident, the Federal Government suspended the Niger State NSCDC Commandant, Suberu Aniviye, and 20 other officers pending the outcome of investigations.
President Bola Tinubu subsequently ordered an inquiry and directed that any officer found responsible should face appropriate sanctions. He stressed that suspension should not replace criminal prosecution where evidence of wrongdoing is established.
Tunji-Ojo inaugurated the 10-member committee on September 22 to determine the circumstances of the arrests, detention and deaths.
The panel was also tasked with examining conditions at the detention facility, identifying possible negligence or misconduct, and recommending measures to prevent a recurrence.
In the course of its work, members visited the detention facility in Minna, inspected the mining site and the NSCDC state headquarters, and conducted autopsies. They also took statements from survivors, relatives of the deceased, NSCDC personnel and other witnesses.
The committee had earlier sought a two-week extension, citing delays in obtaining forensic and pathology reports.
Before the probe, the NSCDC had suggested that a possible diphtheria outbreak may have caused the deaths, though it acknowledged that medical examinations were needed to establish the cause.
The panel’s findings now tie the deaths to conditions inside the detention facility.
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