The Wife of Ebonyi Governor, Mrs Marymaudlin Nwifuru, has cautioned Pregnant Women and Underaged children to stop engaging in mining activities in the state.
Nwifuru made this known, on Saturday, when members of women miners paid a Christmas Homage visit to her at her country home, Oferekpe, Agbaja in Izzi Local Government Area of the state.
The governor’s wife said her quest to ensure Better Health for Rural Women, Children and Internally Displaced (BERWO) Foundation, her pet project, would partner with the Women in Mining Nigeria (WIMIN), in the state to enforce the mining act 2007.
She said that the enforcement of the act would ensure practical action to identify and address the worst forms of risks in mining activities for pregnant women and underaged children.
She said the recommendation would also reduce mining activities that put vulnerable persons at high risk.
She urged women to be productive in their homes, noting that, this would encourage their husbands to give them opportunity to run their homes well.
Earlier, in her remark, the leader of the group, Mrs Sylvia Ogbuinya, said the association had been experiencing different sorts of violence and discrimination from their male counterparts in the mining sector.
Ogbuinya stressed the need for safety, conviviality and equality as they carry out their operations in the sector.
She decried the involvement of underaged children in the sector which was not good as their health and education were being negatively affected.
The Christmas homage visitors included members of the Hausa community, Umuada Ndiibe aliegu, and Agbaja women groups.
