By Sola Ogundipe

AS part of the palliative measures to stem the tide of death from an outbreak of lead poisoning in eight villages in  Zamfara State, more than 30,000 sacks of lead-contaminated top soil have been evacuated from Dareta in Anka LGA and replaced with fresh soil  under the Zamfara State government’s top-soil replacement strategy to bring succour to the affected community.

The contaminated soil was evacuated in sealed bags from over 100 households and  immediate surroundings of the village and buried in a specially dug pit located about 2 kilometres from the village. Fresh soil from a certified lead-free zone was later spread all over the area where the lead-containing soil had been excavated.

When Good Health Weekly visited the community last week, the soil replacement process was at advanced stage. It was gathered that a similar exercise  is currently underway in Yargalma village in Bukkuyum LGA, and may be extended to other affected villages in due course.

In a chat,  Sadiq Abubakar, Senior Special Assistant to the Zamfara State Governor on Special Assignment,  noted  that all mining activities within the communities and environs had been put on hold until appropriate measures are in place to enable adoption of proper processing methods.

“The mining itself is not illegal or the cause of the deaths of the children, rather it is as a result of inappropriate processing of the stones. The people have been grinding the stones in their compounds. This method of  processing is improper.”

The cost of the soil replacement exercise , he noted, was enormous. “It is a very expensive project I must admit and we cannot readily estimate the overall cost yet. Over 30, 000 sacks have been buried already. We are working in line with International Environmental Protection standards, so there is no compromise.”

Abubakar noted  that it was costly in terms of resources and manpower. “Bringing just one sack to the disposal site is costing about N50 for labourers to load it on the truck in the village and offload it at the dumpsite.”