Two million Nigerians at risk from radioactive waste

Sat Jul 5, 2008 (AFP)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080705/wl_afp/nigeriahealthminesradioactiv...

KANO, Nigeria - Radioactive materials in abandoned mining fields in
central Nigeria's Plateau state pose a serious health hazard to two
million people, officials said Saturday.

"Around two million people now live and farm close to the mines,
which means they are all at risk from the harmful effects of the
radioactive emissions from the mining fields," Plateau environment
commissioner Nankim Bagudu told AFP.

Health officials said laboratory analysis of 1,100 abandoned tin and
columbite mining fields scattered in five districts around the state
showed the presence of radioactive materials that are harmful to human health.

"The people living around these mining fields stand the risk of
cancer of the skin, lungs and liver as well as eye impairments from
prolonged exposure to radioactive mine tailings we discovered in the
mines, an official from the Nigerian nuclear research agency told AFP.

There was a boom in coal, tin and columbite mining in the 1960s in
Plateau state, with over 1,000 mining fields established in Jos,
Barikin-Ladi, Bukur, Bassa and Riyom districts.

But after mining activities declined people moved into areas around
the abandoned mines, setting up farms and building houses, according to Bagudu.

He said state authorities had launched an awareness campaign to warn
residents to keep away from the mines and stop using the soil for
domestic purposes.

He said an estimated 150 billion naira (1.3 billion dollars) would be
needed to reclaim the 1,100 mining fields and turn them into
recreational parks, resorts and irrigation fields.

State authorities had appealed to the federal authorities for
assistance in funding the reclamation work, he added.