Related Posts
By FEMI AKINOLA
The Minister of Solid Mineral Development, Mr. Dele Alake has pledged Nigeria’s support to the global campaign against lead poisoning to save the live of vulnerable citizens.
Alake made the pledge while reviewing the exhibition on the Lead- Free Future event organised by the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly in New York, USA.
He announced plans by the Nigerian Government to procure additional equipment for the detection of lead in communities plagued by lead poisoning.
In addition, the minister advocated for more enlightment on the threat posed to persons in the mining of gold and other minerals, emphasizing that cleaning up lead from communities will restore child and maternal death.
While welcoming Alake to the exhibition, the USAID representative, Dr. Casey Bartrem, appreciated the commitment of the minister, showing rock samples retrieved from Zamfara State in Northwest Nigeria, during the clean-up that followed a lead poisoning incident.
Bartrem said the USAID hope to collaborate with Nigeria’s Ministry of Solid Minerals Development in reducing lead in mineral extrction and processing.
