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The natural radioactivity concentrations in soil samples collected from 186 locations across 18 cities in the six geo-political zones of Nigeria have been determined using gamma-ray spectrometry. Results show that the concentrations of (40)K, (238)U and (232)Th in the soil samples varied from below detection limits (BDL) to 1459.4 Bq kg(-1) with a mean of 73.3 +/- 18.5 Bq kg(-1) for (40)K, whereas for (238)U and (232)Th values varied from 9.2 to 113.7 Bq kg(-1) with a mean of 33.9 +/- 7.4 Bq kg(-1) and from BDL to 175.7 Bq kg(-1) with a mean of 12.4 +/- 3.1 Bq kg(-1), respectively. The average gamma absorbed dose rate in air across the cities ranged between 19 +/- 5 and 88 +/- 44 nGy h(-1) and the gross mean was 42.0 +/- 21.0 nGy h(-1). Using available population data in the study areas, about 2.84% of the population is exposed to a radiation dose rate of less than 20 nGy h(-1), 52.40% to a radiation dose rate between 20 and 30 nGy h(-1), 31% to a radiation dose rate between 30 and 60 nGy h(-1) and about 13.76% to dose rates greater than 60 nGy h(-1).

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One of the three goals of the United Nations for sustainable food security is to ensure that all people have access to sufficient, nutritionally adequate, and safe food. Decades of tin mining in the Bitsichi area of the Jos Plateau, Nigeria, have left a legacy of polluted water supplies, impoverished agricultural land, and soil containing abnormally high levels of naturally occurring radioactive elements. In order to ascertain the radiological food safety of the population, different crops that constitute the major food nutritive requirements were collected directly across farmlands in the area. The activity concentrations of (226)Ra, (228)Th, and (40)K were determined in the food and soil samples using gamma-ray spectrometry. Additionally, in situ gamma dose rate measurements were performed on the farms using a pre-calibrated survey meter. The corresponding activity concentrations in the food crops ranged from below detection limit (BDL) to 684.5 Bq kg(-1) for (40)K, from BDL to 83.5 Bq kg(-1) for (226)Ra, and from BDL to 89.8 Bq kg(-1) for (228)Th. Activity concentrations of these radionuclides were found to be lower in cereals than in tubers and vegetables. As for the soil samples, activity concentrations of these radionuclides varied from BDL to 166.4 Bq kg(-1), from 10.9 to 470.6 Bq kg(-1), and from 122.7 to 2,189.5 Bq kg(-1) for (40)K, (226)Ra, and (228)Th, respectively. Average external gamma dose rates were found to vary across the farms from 0.50 +/- 0.01 to 1.47 +/- 0.04 microSv h(-1). Due to past mining activities, the soil radioactivity in the area has been modified and the concentration level of the investigated natural radionuclides in the food crops has also been enhanced. However, the values obtained suggest that the dose from intake of these radionuclides by the food crops is low and that harmful health effects are not expected.