The Commissioner for Solid
Minerals, Shanti Sanshi Victoria, yesterday said an expert team from the NNRA,
Abuja, had arrived the state to inspect the site of possible radiation.
Scientists from the Nigeria
Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) have arrived Adamawa State to inspect the
site of uranium radiation that allegedly killed villagers in Michika Local
Government Area.
The commissioner, who
rejected assertions that radiation killed several people in five villages in
Michika, stressed that the outcome of the scientific tests by the experts would
provide a clue to the possible health problems in the area as there was still
no proven scientific evidence upon which to draw conclusions.
The Ministry of Solid
Minerals Development has established the presence of large deposits of highly
valued uranium in six states. They are Cross River, Adamawa, Taraba, Plateau,
Bauchi and Kano.
It would be recalled that
the Director of Geology at the Adamawa State Ministry of Solid Minerals, Dlama
Zira, had during a recent presentation at the Government House in Yola, said
several people had died of radiation from uranium deposits in five communities
in Michika, namely Garta, Futubou, Himike, Sina-Kwande Nkala and Ghumthi.
Mr. Zira said since the
1950s, villagers had attributed deaths from radiation to evil spirits.
“The people of the affected
communities for many years sacrificed hundreds of goats to appease their deity,
seeking protection from evil spirit that they believed were causing
unidentified illnesses and sudden deaths in the communities. They didn’t know
that they were sitting on and drinking water from huge uranium deposits
identified by radiation experts as the cause of the illnesses and rampart
deaths”, he was quoted as saying during the presentation.
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