By Laraba MUREY
The Federal Government has inaugurated a National Inter-Agency Working Group while unveiling a five-year strategic plan aimed at eliminating lead poisoning in the country.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Daju Kachollom, at a two-day workshop in Abuja, said the move marked a major step in safeguarding public health, especially children who are most at risk.
Pate, through the Director of Health Nutrition Department, Mrs. Ladidi Bako-Aiyegbusi, described lead poisoning as a silent public health crisis that damages the brain and nervous system of children while also causing hypertension, kidney failure, and reproductive problems in adults.
Nigeria has suffered deadly outbreaks of lead poisoning, including the 2010 incident in Zamfara State that claimed over 400 children and another in Niger State in 2015. Fresh cases were also recorded in Zamfara and Sokoto States in 2024.
The Minister explained that the newly inaugurated taskforce would harmonise national strategies, strengthen surveillance, train health workers, and recommend sustainable funding to tackle lead exposure.
He stressed that prevention remained key, calling for collective action from ministries, regulatory agencies, civil society, and development partners such as UNICEF, WHO, and Médecins Sans Frontières.
Also speaking, Adegbite Olufunmilola, Director of the Epidemiology Division and National Coordinator of the Lead Elimination Programme, said the five-year strategy and policy documents would soon be launched as part of wider efforts to eradicate lead poisoning across Nigeria.
On his part, Dr. Ganiyu Jamiyu, Chief Consultant Epidemiologist at the Ministry, warned that the condition could cause mental retardation, disability, or death in children if not checked. He noted that the initiative was part of the ministry’s priority to save future generations.
