The Federal Government will procure more equipment for the detection of lead in communities plagued by lead poisoning, Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake has disclosed.
He made the disclosure while reviewing the exhibition on the lead campaign at the Lead-Free Future event organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on the sidelines of the on-going United Nations General Assembly, in New York, United States of America (USA).
A statement signed by the Minister’s Special Assistant (Media), Segun Tomori, in Abuja yesterday said the minister also pledged the country’s support to the global campaign against lead poisoning to save the lives of vulnerable citizens.
He advocated for more enlightenment on the threat posed to persons in the mining of gold and other minerals, emphasising that cleaning up lead from communities will restore child and maternal health.
He emphasised the need to factor lead reduction in the process of local value addition being championed by the Ministry.
Welcoming the minister to the exhibition, the USAID representative, Dr. Casey Bartrem appreciated the commitment of the minister, showing rock samples retrieved from Zamfara State in Nigeria during the clean-up that followed a lead poisoning incident.
She said the USAID hoped to collaborate with the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development (MSMD) in reducing lead in mineral extraction and processing.