The Plateau Coordinator, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Mr Sam Godongs, says the impact of mining activities in Plateau is allegedly threatening the achievement of the MDGs. Godongs, who said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos  added that mining activities had done “irreparable damage” to the ecology of the state.

“The mining of tin and columbite during the colonial era has degraded the physical landscape of the state as there are now about 1,500 dangerous mining ponds in Plateau.

The radioactive materials contained in these minerals are hazardous and are causing a lot of cases of cancer among the people of Plateau. So, the environment for Plateau people is very critical as drinking water has now been polluted and houses built close to these mining sites in the town are at risks of radiation from the mining sites,” he said.

The coordinator expressed regret that human beings, crops and animals were not safe due to the effect of radiation, contamination and pollution of rivers and streams by the radioactive materials.

Godongs noted that the Federal Ministry of Environment had in 2008 commenced the filling of the ponds but that the project had been abandoned. He therefore, called on the Federal Government to reactivate the project. Godongs noted that the ministry had taken the maps of the mining areas but that the results had yet to be made public.

“We need scientific information about these mining areas. We should know how close and how far we should be from the sites. We should also know the harmful effect of the mining on our lives, plants and animals.

We need to share information and make it multi-dimensional by developing collaboration with other relevant agencies at the national and international levels,” he said.

The state government had planned to convert some of the mining ponds into dams and fish ponds. However, that could not be due to the discovery of the radioactive and other materials harmful to human, crops and animals, according to government sources