The Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr. Kayode Fayemi has been summoned to appear before the Senate at an undisclosed date to give an update on the Lead Poisoning incident that happened in Zamfara State in 2014 after a motion was moved on the subject at the plenary session of Tuesday, 17 October 2017.
Moving the motion, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu (APC: Lagos) expressed concerns over the devastating effect that lead poisoning had caused across 38 communities in Zamfara State in 2014 where over four hundred casualties were recorded before calling for an update on the situation. According to Sen. Tinubu, reports shows that only 8 out of 38 communities had remediation exercises conducted, leaving the vast majority of victims with no access to medical treatment. As a result, they had suffered from various ailments such as infertility, blindness and neurological defects. She also emphasized that the environmental abuses on citizens breached their rights to life, dignity of person and other fundamental rights.
Sen. Tinubu mentioned some of the Senate’s efforts to address the situation, such as its adoption of a resolution in June 2016 that urged the Federal Government to release funds from the Ecological Funds Office for their immediate rehabilitation. In addition, she stated that it had mandated its Committee on Solid Minerals to review the Mining Act, 2007 to include best practices that could impact local communities positively. Nonetheless, she noted that due to lack of funds, Medecin Sans Frontier (MSF) and other Civil Society Organizations had steadily withdrawn financial support to these affected communities and victims before calling for the Minister to speak on efforts undertaken to bring relief.
The Senate also mandated its Committee on Environment and Solid Minerals to visit affected communities to ascertain the level of damage that had been caused since the lead poisoning incident and investigate the activities of the Ministry of Environment in relation to the mining sector.
The Minister is expected to deliver a brief on its mining roadmap, implementation framework and how his Ministry intends to protect residents of mining host communities.
