Agriculture is one of the major sources of environmental pollution. Efforts have been and are still being made to improve the productivity of the low nutrient status of soil in tropical Africa so as to enhance food production in order to sustain the projected population growth necessitating irrigated farming systems. The paper attempts to discuss the effects of heavy metals in agricultural soils, potential risks of heavy metals in soil, remediation of contaminated soil, prevention of heavy metal contamination, traditional remediation of contaminated soil, management of contaminated soil, as well as the use of plants for environmental clean-up, treatment of metal-contaminated soils, preventive steps and classification of heavy metals. The sources of heavy metals in the environment as well as their benefits to plants have been highlighted. Future prospects and challenges have also been discussed. Recommendations and conclusions were made.