Thirty-seven suspected illegal gold miners died while held in a paramilitary detention facility in Nigeria's Niger state on Thursday, sparking street protests, a government-imposed curfew and an official investigation ordered by President Bola Tinubu. The deaths occurred in Minna, the capital of Niger state — a mineral-rich region in central Nigeria more than twice the size of Belgium — where the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), a paramilitary body responsible for protecting critical infrastructure, had detained the men. A civil defence commander has since been suspended.

Survivors recounted harrowing scenes of suffocation inside an overcrowded cell. "We were jam-packed in the cell, no ventilation for us to breathe well," Dauda Shehu told journalists from a hospital bed, describing how detainees banged on the cell door and pleaded repeatedly with guards who refused to respond. Another survivor said he made it out alive only because he was positioned near the entrance where air was marginally better. "People are dying one after the other — they did not believe us," he recalled telling guards. A third survivor told Niger state's governor that detainees were ordered to stand to fit more people inside, that a spray of some substance irritated their throats and eyes, and that they were given no water. An intelligence report seen by AFP corroborated survivors' accounts, attributing the deaths to overcrowding and poor ventilation, though the civil defence corps had initially blamed an unspecified disease.

The deaths triggered an angry reaction in Minna, where crowds blocked a main street and attacked a transport depot, a bank, political party offices and private businesses. Police fired shots — it remained unclear whether live rounds or anti-riot pellets were used — to disperse the protesters. Authorities imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew to contain the unrest. A video circulating online appeared to show dozens of young men, many of them apparently teenagers, lying motionless on the ground dressed only in shorts.

President Tinubu ordered a "thorough, urgent and full and transparent investigation," declaring that suspicion of illegal mining did not strip the detainees of their fundamental rights. "We will not tolerate deaths arising from official negligence, abuse, dereliction of duty or the failure of public officials to protect lives placed under their care," he said. Grieving relatives echoed the demand for accountability. Mallam Abdullahi, whose son Salim — described as the family's breadwinner — had left home three days earlier for mining work and never returned, told reporters: "They should tell us what truly killed our children. We need justice."

The tragedy throws a spotlight on the dangerous and often lawless world of artisanal gold mining in Niger state. Thousands of small-scale miners, drawn by the hope of striking gold, operate in legally precarious conditions that criminal gangs exploit by taxing miners and demanding a share of extracted ore. The state has also seen a surge in kidnappings in recent weeks, attributed to both local bandit groups and Lakurawa jihadists who have extended their reach from Nigeria's northwest into the central region, sheltering in the state's vast forests and game reserves. The deaths in custody now add a new dimension to a crisis of security and governance that has long beset one of Nigeria's most resource-rich but volatile states.