Ibrahim, UmarAbubakar, Aisha KanaAbdullahi, Abbas AutaMustapha, Mohammed IdrisAbdullahi, Mundi Abubakar2023-12-142023-12-142018-12-01Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. (1999). Lead: Toxicological Profiles; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Atlanta, GA, USA. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. (2015). Guidance for the Preparation of a Twenty First Set Toxicological Profile. 2007. Available online: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/guidance/set_21_ guidance.pdf (accessed on 12 May 2015). Cao, H., Chen, J., Zhang, J. (2010). Heavy metals in rice and garden vegetables and their potential health risks to inhabitants in the vicinity of an industrial zone in Jiangsu, China. J. Environ. Sci., 22, 1792–1799. Caspah, K., Manny, M., Morgan, M. (2016). Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Soils from Witwatersrand Gold Mining Basin, South Africa. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, no. 13, vol. 663. Cui, Y. L., Zhu, Y. G., Zhai, R. H., Chen, D. Y., Huang, Y. Z.,Qiu, Y. (2004). Transfer of metals from soil to vegetables in an area near a smelter in Nanning, China, Environ. Int., 30, 785-791. Department of Environmental Affairs. (2010). The Framework for the Management of Contaminated Land, South Africa. 2010. Available online: http://sawic.environment.gov.za/documents/562.pdf (accessed on 5 February 2016). Kabata, P. A.(2011). Trace Elements in Soil and Plants, 4th ed.; Taylor & Francis: Boca Raton, FL, USA.https://keffi.nsuk.edu.ng/handle/20.500.14448/6046In this study, the health risk caused by heavy metals in swampy agricultural soil of Nasarawa west was assessed. A total of 50 soil samples from five local government of Nasarawa west (10 from each) were collected and analyzed for Asernic (As), Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Nikel (Ni) and Zinc (Zn) present in the samples using XRF Spectrometry at Center for Energy Research and Development (CERD) in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile lfe. Osun State, Nigeria. Measured concentrations of these heavy metals were then used to calculate the health risk for adults and children. The result show that the concentrations are in the order of Ni> Cd> Zn>Pb>As which are all below the permissible level except for As which appear to be higher than the permissible levels. The Hazard Index (HI) of all the pathways for adults and children were found to be 1.55 and 12.19 respectively. These values are greater than 1 which is the tolerance level for both adults and children. These makes non- carcinogenic effects significant to the adult’s population and pose serious non- carcinogenic effect on children in those areas. The carcinogenic risk values were found to be both higher than acceptable values. This implies that there is a probability that 1 adult in about 10,000 may be affected.enXRF spectrometry, heavy metals, average daily intake, carcinogenic risk, noncarcinogenic riskArticle