The acting Minister of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD) Bawa Bwari, has expressed the federal government resolve to ensure saver mining in the country.
He said this at end of a two-day international conference on lead poisoning associated with artisanal gold mining in Nigeria with special focus on prevention in Abuja.
The minister said, “We intend to ensure that human health is protected, environment is taken care of- we are talking of soil, we talking of our plants, we talking of our waters.
He stressed that: “for us, the federal government is committed in preventing lead poisoning associated with artisanal gold mining.
He expressed his appreciation to the media saying, “we understand your role very well and we appreciate that. You are partners in this business, we need you more than you think because without awareness we will not be able to achieve what we want to achieve”
He also thanked the participants and the international partners- Doctors without Borders for their contributions and sacrifices made. “We have our children saved from this illness (lead poisoning in Zamfara and Niger) and our environment save and all other as a result of this activities of mining.
He explained that, “before now children were dying and nobody knew exactly what was ggoing on. A lot things were attributed to the death until they (Doctors without Borders) came on board then we realized that it was due to poisoning as a result of economic activities of our men and women in mining disregarding safer mining methods.
He enjoined the artisanal miners to embrace safer mining, prevent lead poisoning as the effect is irreversible.
“Prevention is very important because it’s an issue that is irreversible, when it happens the cure is very difficult so you have to prevent-
Prevention is better than cure.
“Our intention is to ensure we apply preventive measures so that these things don’t occur at all.
He reiterated that mining is something that is in federal government agenda and “we intend to pursue it in the diversification programme of our country because we know the potentials are there and we have seen the possibilities and mining intend to be the key drive of the economic agenda; but while doing that we intend to do it responsibly,” he said.
To ensure safer mining and global best practices in mining, Bwari said “the ministry is to register all informal miners so that we can easily monitor their activities and easily also collect our royalties for their contribution to the federal government revenue.”