District Head of Bagega in Zamfara State Alhaji Jibrin Haruna has urged the Federal and Zamfara governments to hasten remediation of Bagega village in the state in order to save hundreds of children from the effects of lead poisoning.
The remediation of Bagega, the largest mining community in Zamfara commenced in September 2011 by the Zamfara government, but was suspended two months after, for paucity of funds.
The remediation programme was expected to excavate the entire village and remove the contaminated soil, while clean soil would be spread to cover the surface of compounds in the village. And no fewer than 330 compounds were mapped out for the exercise, which was expected to be funded by the Federal Government.
Haruna said in an interview in Bagega that people of the village were seriously disturbed by the delay in the take-off of the exercise.
"The continued delay in the full commencement of the remediation exercise has further put our children under serious risk of lead poisoning and its attendant health hazards.
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"We are appealing to the government to hasten the resumption of the exercise, for us to have rest of minds that our soil is free from lead poison contamination", the district head said.
He expressed concern that an international organisation, Medicins Sans Frontier's (MSF) intervention programme could not reach the community.
This, according to him, said was in spite of the number of children, who died of lead poisoning and scores of others suffering from lead poison-related health problems.
He said the condition for the MSF's medical intervention was hinged on the completion of the remediation exercise, stressing that unless that was done, the intervention could elude the community.
The district head also urged the government to provide mining licences to cooperative mining associations in the community and provide them with safer mining apparatuses.
State Commissioner for Environment Alhaji Mukhtar Lugga, however, said the delay was caused by the inability of the state government to access funds approved by the Federal Government for the exercise, saying the federal government had approved N650 million from the ecological funds for complete remediation of the entire Bagega Village and awareness campaign on safer mining practice in the area.
Lugga expressed the hope that the money would soon be released for the exercise to commence between November and December this year. (NAN)
Daily Trust
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