The 10-member independent committee constituted to investigate deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners detained by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State will be inaugurated on Tuesday (tomorrow).

Secretary of the committee, Isa Chiroma, confirmed the development in a statement on Monday.

Mr Chiroma said the inauguration will be held at Minister’s Conference Room, in the Federal Ministry of Interior Old Federal Secretariat, Abuja, at 12 noon.

The inauguration comes days after the federal government raised the panel to probe the deaths of the detained miners.

A statement on Saturday bythe Interior minister, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said the action followed a directive by President Bola Tinubu for a comprehensive, transparent and unhindered investigation into the incident.

Mr Tunji-Ojo also directed suspension of officers involved in the incident pending the probe conclusion.

He described the deaths of the alleged illegal miners as deeply disturbing, adding that the government owed the families of the deceased and the Nigerian public a transparent account of the events leading to the incident.

The minister noted that the committee was expected to establish the identities of the deceased and investigate their arrests, detention and the cause and circumstances of their deaths.

The committee is chaired by a retired deputy director-general of the State Security Service, Jonathan Kure.

Other members include retired AIG Hosea Hassan Karma; a professor of histopathology and former chief medical director of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Olayinka Buhari; representatives of the Minna Emirate Council and Niger State Government; Liman Sulaiman of the Miners Association of Nigeria; lawyer and human rights activist Deji Adeyanju; Blueprint Newspaper journalist Zainab Suleiman Okino and public affairs analyst George Agbakahi.