From Abba Abubakar Kabara, Gusau
Zamfara state is one of the states in the federation where solid minerals abound. This presence of natural endowments ought to boost their revenue base. But on Friday, June 4, 2010, the Aljazeera came up with a sad news that some local government areas in Zamfara have been highly contaminated and no less than 163 children died in some villages as a result of lead poisoning from mining activities.
Shortly before the report, President Goodluck Jonathan had expressed concern about the hazards emanating therefrom. So, it could be a coincidence that such a calamity occurred on the heels of the president’s visit. May be he was privileged to have a comprehensive report from the Federal Ministry of Health which knew of the preliminary investigations carried out by a team of medical experts since mining has been intensified.
It may be correct that only five villages are affected but the tragedy from the lead poisoning is better imagined for now, given the long term effect which may linger for 10 to 15 years from now. There are also fears being entertained, with illegal miners operating without borders in the minerals endowed state.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sa’ad Idris seems to be in this state of mind, having been aware of the existence of such mining and processing sites which may be as a result of abundance of such solid minerals including lead.
According to him, the danger of activities of the illegal miners in the villages outside the identified ones will exacerbate the likelihood of cross-contamination of the neighbouring communities within the vicinity of the hardest hit villages. Given the level of illiteracy among the villagers in the state, ordinary people will be exposing their households inadvertently. They seem to exhibit care-free attitude as they engage themselves in the business without taking appropriate measures to protect their young ones. For instance, it is the utensils they use in their homes to carry out domestic chores that they ignorantly use for processing minerals like gold and lead. The state government has therefore set up a committee to check and identify all locations where the illegal business is going on and stop it forthwith if the extent of pollution should be curbed.
Dr. Antono Neri of the Centre for Disease Control, USA, Atlanta, and Dr. Ian von Lindern of the Blacksmith Institute on Pollution Control, USA, are on top of the situation. They seem to offer the way forward in this obviously tragic matter in the light of short term and long term grave consequences of the environmental contamination. It is said that lead poisoning adversely affects kidney and the brain of small children and destroy the reproduction system in adults.
However, the Peoples Daily’s checks have now revealed that Dareta village in Anka local government is the worst hit by the lead poisoning tragedy among the identified communities at the time of our correspondent’s visit, which coincided with the commencement of evacuation of the contaminated soil from the affected communities for replacement with the clean type of soil..
Dareta village, a remotely isolated community located some 110 kilometres away from the state capital, is famous for harbouring illegal miners over the years and it is no surprise that it is the worst hit as a relatively small community with an estimated population of about three to four thousand people bereft of social amenities that make living more convenient. May be, for want of any gainful employment, most of the youths are largely involved in the gold mining business, while women engage in the local processing of the primary materials, and they fall victim of the poisonous lead.
All the relevant agencies have now combined efforts to ensure the success of the evacuation exercise in that village. These agencies include the pollution control agency from the Blacksmith Institute USA, the National Environment Standard and Regulation Enforcement Agency, NESREA, a team from the Center for Disease Control, Atlanta USA, the National Onchocerciasis Control Programme, the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development alongside officials of the state government.
The exercise also involved 27 individuals from the local community. Dr. Ian von Lindern was on hand to give instruction on procedures of soil evacuation without compromising personal safety as well as that of the community.
One of the illegal miners, Umaru Sani, met on site said “we believe that the phenomenon was caused by evil spirits and not by anything from the mining.” He alleged that the lead poisoning started when a big snake was dug out from one of the mining pits and its reaction caused the death of many within the locality. But on his part, the village head, Alhaji Muhammadu Bello, seems to have a different opinion. He said the village never experienced lead poisoning until recently when some people brought one unusual rock from the neighbouring villages called Sunke and Yargalma.
He added that “we began to notice an inexplicable death of children in our community, a situation which compelled me to report the case to the local council chairman who immediately sent some people to come and investigate the situation.” Since the incident took place, the response from the authorities at all levels have brought a lot of relief to the affected communities, where human beings and animals perished simultaneously. No less than 20 pregnant women lost their pregnancies to the lead poisoning.
Available records show that a total of 60 children had died within a period of 40 days in just one village. Bello is so grateful to the authorities for their prompt response. His words: “we are very grateful with intervention by both the state and Federal Government, and all others who came to our rescue as only God knows what will have happened if the assistance did not come in time.”
When contacted on the tragic happening in his domain, the chairman of Anka local government, Alhaji Ahmed Sharu Anka told the Peoples Daily that a total of 128 children died out of 150 affected by the lead poisoning, a little less than 157 that died in Bukkuyum local government. So, the number of deaths has gone up from 163 earlier to 285 from the following villages: Dareta, Abare, Tunga Daji Duza and Sunke.
Sharu further said, “even today (last Tuesday) two vehicles full of such victims were taken to the Bukkuyum hospital and the laboratory tests are still in progress to indentify anybody with the problem so that he is immediately taken away for treatment at the isolation camp.”
In his reaction to the unfortunate situation, state Commissioner for Environment, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar Maru, said government is committed to the safety of the affected people and that no stone is left unturned in the quest to curb the rising level of the contamination in the communities adversely affected now and the entire state in the future.
Part of the strategy that has proved effective is the involvement of local community in the major activity such as evacuation and control exercise so that they could acquire useful knowledge about safety measures and apply them appropriately.
As a mark of commitment to safety of the lives of Nigerians in mining areas, the Federal Government enacted a new Mining Act in 2007. This law will enable the state government to collaborate with the Federal Government in ensuring nothing like this tragedy ever happens again.
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