Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has commended the move by President Goodluck Jonathan to save the lives of over 1,500 children in Bagega, Zamfara State, by releasing funds for remediation of the area.

This is contained in a statement by his media aide, Bamikole Omishore. It would be recalled that the campaign to Save Bagega has been growing in recent weeks, and

Saraki led calls from the Senate to the Federal Government for a swift remediation.

The Committee on the Environment had received a brief from NGO Medicin Sans Frontiere (Doctors Without Borders) on the need to take immediate action to avert the further deaths of children.

Their report suggested that over 400 children had died already as a result of lead poisoning and another 1,500 were at risk of death, due to the environmental damage as a result of poor mining processes.

According to the statement," The release of funds from the Federal Government for the environmental clean up in Bagega is great news for the local community as well as for the thousands of people that added their voice to the campaign."