Reuters breaks story of Nigeria lead poisoning

Reuters broke news on June 4 of a lead poisoning disaster in remote villages in northern Nigeria which killed more than 160 people, the vast majority of them children aged under five. Tipped off by aid agency contacts in Senegal and Nigeria that there were reports of high infant mortality levels in the villages, Reuters set about finding the affected sites. Undeterred by official denials — the state government said there was no such incident — and after a two-day journey by car, motorbike and across rivers, a Reuters correspondent reached the villages and officials in the health ministry in Abuja were forced to comment. While rival news agencies scrambled to catch up by talking to officials in the capital, Reuters was filing text and pictures from the location. AP took almost a week to arrive. The reporting was praised by aid agencies and was cited in Nigerian newspapers.