7, 200 children treated for lead poisoning ―Osinbajo

VICE President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday, disclosed that about 7,200 children have so far been treated for remediation of lead poisoning in Nigeria.

He made this known in Abuja at the Second International Conference on Lead Poisoning Associated with Artisanal Gold mining in Nigeria with a special focus on Prevention, with the theme: “Safer Mining: Clean Environment, Healthy Environment, Healthy Communities.”

Professor Osinbajo said that it is possible to have artisanal activities and enjoy the wealth therefrom, if proper preventive measures were put in place and the right equipment was provided, lamenting that Gold mining was currently dominated by artisanal miners using rudimentary mining methods and crude processing techniques.

According to him, “the obvious consequence is the exposure of the miners, the environment and local communities to serious danger. In areas where gold contains a concentration of heavy metals like lead, exposure to the dust released from these metals as a result of the crude processing techniques, leads to serious health consequences not just on the persons directly involved in the mining but also for all the neighbouring areas and communities. Children, of course, are most at risk of death and disability.

“Many will recall the outbreak of lead poisoning that occurred in Zamfara State and a lot of which have been repeated today. In 2010, as a result of the activities of illegal gold miners residential compounds and village squares, studies carried out revealed that 17,000 people were affected an estimated 400 to 500 children lost their lives due to acute lead poisoning. The federal government and development partners helped to bring that ugly incident under control.

“Regrettably five years after the Zamfara outbreak, another outbreak of severe lead poisoning was reported on April 2015 in two villages in Niger State. This outbreak was specifically environmental lead contamination from artisanal gold mining activities and nearly 30 children died from severe lead toxicity and many more were poisoned.

“To date, nearly 7,200 children in Niger and Zamfara states have received treatment, I’m informed this is the highest number of children with lead poisoning reported anywhere. Unfortunately, treatment does not reverse the effect of lead poisoning, it only accelerates the rate at which the body expels the lead in other to prevent further damage or death.

“So for thousands of children who did not die of lead poisoning in Zamfara and Niger, they, therefore, have to live with cognitive and other disabilities. Many of these children may never attain the full potential and become productive citizens,” he said.

He admitted that the current efforts to tackle lead poisoning and artisanal gold mining have not been adequate, adding that: “better evidence do we have for that than the fact that the Niger state outbreak happened five years after we thought we had contained that problem. An indication of recontamination in previously remediated sites in Zamfara compelled us to rethink and refocus our commitment and strategy to protecting our vulnerable children and communities at large.

“As Nigeria traverse the road to share mining prosperity, we must ensure that we do it in a way that will not harm our health or our environment. Those who say the option is death by poisoning rather than poverty, offer a syndical false choice. Artisanal mining and the life to enjoy the wealth from it is possible, if we put in place the proper preventive measures and provide the right equipment.

“No country should have to pay for its economic prosperity and development with the lives and wellbeing of its people. I am confident that this conference will produce federally coordinated prevention plan that leverages on all the lessons learnt so far and bring federal, state, local authorities as well as the civil society and the corporates into alignment. We must avoid working side by side and expect to solve the problems especially because of these problems cuts across all sectors and disciplines.” He added.

Earlier, the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Mr Abubakar Bwari, said a formalization exercise that groups artisanal miners into licensed cooperatives and supports them with working tools and training on the use of safer mining and processing methods is being pursued with vigour.

He said the government was determined to encourage the establishment of gold processing zones away from residential areas, while also increasing the capacity of artisanal miners to use safer mining and processing methods, such as the borax and iGOLI methods.

Also speaking, the Minister of State for Environment, Mr. Ibrahim Jubril, who was represented by Director, Pollution Control and Environmental Health, Mr. Charles Okeya, also called on relevant stakeholders to leverage on the existing National Committee on Chemicals Management (NCCM) by integrating all their plans into the existing structure to further strengthen the national institutional framework for sound management of chemicals.