‘Source of Jos water plant poison remains’

The gas chlorine leakage at the Plateau State Water Board in Jos, which killed about 11 persons recently has not yet been tackled, Abdulsalami Nasidi, Project Manager of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said yesterday. “We discovered that the source of the poison has not been destroyed; it is still hanging. We have evidence […]

The gas chlorine leakage at the Plateau State Water Board in Jos, which killed about 11 persons recently has not yet been tackled, Abdulsalami Nasidi, Project Manager of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said yesterday.
“We discovered that the source of the poison has not been destroyed; it is still hanging. We have evidence that there are still leakages,” Professor Nasidi said.
The professor, who led a team of doctors from the Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (NFELTP) of the centre said this during an inspection of the plant located at the British America area of the city.
“We cannot guarantee that it cannot happen again. We have to quickly start massive health education because if it happens again, nobody will forgive us,” he said.
At least 11 persons were confirmed dead while about 101 others were   hospitalised  after they inhaled toxic substance from what was later learnt to be  expired cylinders at the plant. The team from the centre which visited the site, included eight specialists  in epidemiology.
Professor Nasidi, who was conducted round the facility by the plant manager, Pam Cholom, also visited the community where he interacted with some victims of the July 25 gas leakage.
Our correspondent however  gathered  that the team was stopped from gaining access into the quarters of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS). An officer of the service, James Emmanuel, prevented the team from entering the quarters, insisting that it was a breach of “due process” to allow them access without formal application.
Two committees have been set up by the state government and the state legislature to carry out investigation into the disaster, but Professor Nasidi said, “we don’t want to wait for the committees. The more you wait for a committee, the more people die”.
He said his team would submit a report with recommendations for immediate destruction of the cylinder and its poisonous content, as well as compensation for the victims.