In March 2010, the lead poisoning crisis in Zamfara, which resulted in the death of more than 160 children, came to the attention of the Zamfara State Government, the Federal Government, as well as international organisations.
The lead poisoning surfaced as the people were processing lead-rich ore for the extraction of gold and the focus of the nation then was on how to save the lives of more children in the affected mining communities by protecting them from the adverse effects of the toxic substance.
At the initial stage of the crisis, it was discovered that seven villages in Anka and Bukkuyum local government areas, which are home to large deposits of gold and other precious mineral resources, had been contaminated by the toxic lead.
Tests conducted on the soil of the villages, including Yargalma, Tugan Guru, Dareta, Abare, Duza, Tungan Daji and Sunke , revealed that it contained alarming levels of lead contamination.
As a stop-gap measure, Zamfara state Government, in partnership with the U.S. Centre for Disease Control, established a rapid response team to undertake massive soil tests across the affected villages.
The outcome of the investigation confirmed that some villages had up to 100,000 microgram per dice litre of lead contamination and this indicated that Zamfara’s lead poison level was very much above the standard safe level of 400 microgram per dice litre.
The discovery further heightened the apprehension of the government and international agencies, whose attention was drawn by the casualties recorded in the affected villages within a short period of time.
Nasir Umar, a laboratory expert and the Deputy Director of the Rapid Response Team, said that blood tests conducted on children in the seven affected communities revealed that no fewer than 4,000 children tested positive to toxic lead contamination in their blood.
He said that a more disturbing fact was that while a lead poison level reading of between one and 10 microgram per dice litre could be safely accommodated in human blood, the level of the toxic substance in the blood of some of the children was as high as 135 microgram per dice litre.
“What is more alarming is the fact that eight more villages have tested positive to lead contamination in other parts of the state where mining activities are thriving, while thousands of children have been affected by the toxic lead, according to the latest discovery,’’ he said.
Umar listed some of the newly affected as Gobirawa, Kawaye, Kurmani, Kirsa, Tsahar Gambo, Kadauri and Malale in Anka and Maru local government areas, stressing that the magnitude of the lead poisoning crisis in Zamfara was beyond what the state government could effectively handle.
Besides, a recent report by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) indicated that “thousands of children need immediate medical treatment and dozens of villages remain contaminated, two years into the worst lead poisoning epidemic in modern history’’.
The report noted that high level of lead poisoning recorded in parts of Zamfara State could impair the neurological, biological and cognitive functions of affected children, which were estimated to be more than 4,000, unless they were rescued through urgent medical attention.
“Ironically, Zamfara’s gold brought hope for prosperity but resulted in deaths and backbreaking labour for its children,” said Babatunde Olugboji, the Deputy Programme Director of Human Rights Watch.
“People living in Zamfara State do not have to trade their lives or their children’s lives for a chance to mine gold and make a living,’’ he added.
Medical and environmental experts also said that high toxic lead in the blood could cause damages to the brain, liver, kidney, nerves and stomach of affected children, while causing infertility in the long run.
Jane Cohen, a researcher with the Human Rights Watch, said that artisanal gold miners in Zamfara were tacitly toying with the lives of their children, all in the name of searching for gold.
“Artisanal gold miners are found throughout Zamfara State in northwestern Nigeria; and high levels of lead in the earth and the use of rudimentary mining methods have resulted in an epidemic of lead poisoning among children,’’ she said.
Of all the affected villages, Bagega, which stands out as the largest mining community with the largest gold ore-processing field, has hundreds of youths camped and engaged in day-and-night activities in search of gold.
At the Bagage field, children are not left out of the scene. Children, with ages ranging between six and 12 years, are usually seen all over the place on different missions, struggling to eke out a living.
Some of the children at the gold processing field in Bagage sell cake, nuts and local snacks, while others are directly involved in the processing of the lead-rich ore, thereby inhaling dust that has been contaminated by toxic lead.
“Children as young as eight work in Zamfara’s informal mining sector, dropping down into the mines, processing the ore, using mercury to extract the gold, and selling goods at the processing site.
“Much of this work, which can be extremely hazardous, qualifies as among the worst forms of child labour under international law,’’ said the Human Rights Watch report.
Since 2010, the development has been eliciting a lot of concern from the federal and state governments, as well as international organisations such as Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders), U.S. Centre for Disease Control and the Human Rights Watch, among others.
However, a fundamental question which remains is: Have the efforts of the government and agencies been able to save the lives of children in affected areas, while guaranteeing the safety of the mining communities.
Of course, Medecins Sans Frontieres, in concert with the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and the Rapid Response Team have diagnosed at least 4,000 affected children, while treating and discharging 1,500 out of them.
The Rapid Response Team’s report, however, said that well over 3,000 children were in dire need of urgent medical attention, noting that in Bagega alone; more than 2,000 children fell under such category.
Umar stressed that the immediate remediation of Bagega was critical to the success of the programme initiated to save the children’s lives and guarantee a safe environment, particularly in Bagega, which had high levels of lead contamination.
On its part, the Federal Government has initiated efforts to regulate mining activities so as to make them safer and more beneficial.
On the other hand, the Zamfara State Government, apart from collaborating with international organizations in testing and treating affected children, has cleaned six out of the seven villages affected by the lead poisoning.
However, the remediation efforts in Bagega, which started late last year, were inhibited by paucity of funds.
All the same, hope is not lost in efforts to tackle the menace of the lead poisoning crisis in Zamfara in spite of the magnitude of the disaster.
Alhaji Muhkar Lugga, the state’s Commissioner for Environment, who is in charge of the remediation exercise, said that the state government needed about N600 million to clean up about 200 compounds, which had high levels of lead poison.
He conceded that although remediation activities stopped some weeks ago, arrangements were underway for the resumption of the remediation and cleanup exercise.
Lugga, who expressed the optimism that the exercise would be completed before the onset of the rainy season, stressed that the state government was determined to conduct the exercise in a way that would guard against the re-emergence of lead poisoning in the decontaminated environments.
He said that the Federal Government had agreed to provide the needed funds for the completion of the exercise.
In spite of these concerted efforts, observers maintain that tangible efforts should be directed at sensitising the public to their expectations in the crusade against lead poisoning.
Sharing similar sentiments, Olugboji bemoaned a situation in which some people in Zamfara’s mining communities were still unwary of the consequences of engaging in unwholesome mining and ore-processing activities.
The Human Rights Watch chief made the observation after his recent visit to Bagega village to monitor the progress of the remediation activity.
Olugboji said: “The situation elicits a lot of concern because when we visited the mining and processing sites, we could still notice that the people are either unmindful of safer mining practices or they just don’t care.
“A lot still has to be done in ensuring that the residents of this village refrain from paying for gold with their lives.
“This matter is not about let us do them a favour; it’s their right to have a reasonable standard of health. And it is part of the government’s obligations to protect their rights,’’ he added.
To get a lasting solution to the problem, Olugboji stressed that the government must ensure that all the children in the affected villages were duly tested and provided with medical care.
He said that all the compounds, including those in the newly contaminated villages must be remediated, while safer mining codes should be initiated and complied with.
“It is just doing one thing or the other. Everything must be done at the same time for the world to see that there is progress, in terms of ensuring that these children are not killed by lead poisoning anymore,’’ Olugboji said.
Analysts, nonetheless, believe that the federal and state governments should to do more than just remediating the affected neighbourhoods.
They insist that concerted and structured efforts should be made to cultivate and increase the people’s awareness on the need to imbibe good mining practices, so as to save their lives and families from the dangers of lead poisoning.
Source: NAN
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