Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Sunday said his “heart breaks” each time he watches a viral video of a teenage artisanal miner, Yusuf Aliyu, speaking at a mining site in Niger State after the deaths of 37 miners in the state.
Atiku, in a statement posted on his X handle, said he was prepared to support the boy’s education, describing him as a child whose intelligence and confidence should be nurtured in a classroom rather than by working at a mining site.
“I have watched Yusuf Aliyu’s video repeatedly, and each time, my heart breaks. A child with such intelligence, clarity and confidence should be in a classroom building his future—not struggling for survival in a community surrounded by gold but buried 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
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