Recent viral videos expose two starkly different faces of illegal mining in Nigeria. On TikTok, a man named Abdul Aminu Gwaska allegedly showed his 173,000 followers, piles of cash, flaunting wealth from unregulated mining operations in Ilesha, Osun State . His videos raised concerns about how such large-scale operations can exist so openly under the nose of regulators.

Meanwhile, another video from Jos captures a more desperate scene. Locals and poor households are shown digging dangerous mining pits in their own backyards . One woman’s statement cuts to the heart of why: “Mining these minerals is better than becoming a robber, kidnapper, or even terrorist,” she said in the video obtained by Reuters . For her, the pit is not greed—it is survival.

These videos matter not because they reveal the existence of illegal mining—that has long been known—but because they show how it operates in plain sight. Gwaska’s TikTok bravado suggests a confidence that regulators will not act. The Jos woman’s backyards show a population so excluded from legal livelihoods that they risk cave-ins and collapsed tunnels rather than turn to crime.

The Ministry of Solid Minerals and the governments of Osun and Plateau have not yet issued official statements on these specific videos, despite public discussion over accountability in the industry .