The Ogun State Government on Sunday said it will conduct “Free Lead Poisoning Test” on the residents of Ogijo town especially those living around the six recycling plants and their workers.
A statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday night said the move is part of the government’s “continuous efforts at getting to the root of an alleged Lead Poisoning in Ogijo community by seven recently shut Used Lead Acid Battery ULAB Recycling Industries.”
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The state commissioner for health, Tomi Coker, said the “Lead Testing Centre” with medical experts and full complement of medical equipments has already been set up at the Ogijo Primary Health Centre and it will commence operation on Monday.
Ms Coker announced this when she and her Ministry of Environment counterpart, Ola Oresanya, led a state government delegation that comprises medical and environment experts from the Ministry of Health, Environment and the Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency, OGEPA to meet with all Executive Committees Members of Community Development Associations CDAs in Ogijo and the Ologijo in Council at the Ologijo Palace.
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She also called on the CDAs and the Ologijo in Council to inform all their members the importance of the lead test and encourage them to take the opportunity to know their lead status, stating that “the Dapo Abiodun led administration will never trade their well-being for economic and industrial development and gains.”
The new development follows a PREMIUM TIMES/The Examinatin report that documented cases of lead poisoning in the community.
Investigations
PREMIUM TIMES and The Examination, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates global health threats, had published a two-part investigation that revealed unsafe working conditions and widespread lead contamination in Ogijo, a community that borders Lagos and Ogun states.
Since the release of the two-part investigation, federal and state ministries, departments and agencies of government responsible for upholding labour and environmental laws have begun taking action after about a decade of poor regulatory oversight.
On Monday 24 November, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment,Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, led her team to seal up True Metals Nigeria Limited and Phoenix Steel Mills Limited,
During an inspection of True Metals, the battery-recycling plant at the center of the investigation, the minister said she found workers operating in what she described as “hazardous and dehumanising conditions.”
Days later on Thursday 27 November, the Commissioner for Environment, Ola Oresanya, led a combined team of experts from the Ministries of Environment and Health, OGEPA, and NESREA, to Ogijo and ordered the closure of seven lead recycling factories.
Earlier in September, NESREA announced the seal up of 9 lead recycling factories, after it received a copy of the soil and blood test results commissioned by The Examination and prepared by STRADev, a non-governmental environmental health organisation.
In addition, Chris Pruitt, executive chairman of the board of East Penn Manufacturing, a major US battery maker with ties to Nigerian companies, told The Examination and partner newsrooms that East Penn stopped buying lead from Nigeria and began to tighten its supplier code of conduct.
ALSO READ: NESREA shuts down Ogijo recycling plants over environmental hazards after PREMIUM TIMES/The Examination report
Last week, the Ogun State Government called for an immediate suspension of lead ingot export activities in the state following growing concerns about toxic exposure in the Ogijo area of Sagamu Local Government of the state.
The government also ordered the shutdown of seven Used Lead-Acid Battery (ULAB) recycling facilities operating within the Ogijo community.
Process Audit
In the statement released on Sunday, the Commissioner for Environment, Mr Oresanya, announced that the Process Audit of the seven ULAB Industries including Steel Industries in the town will start this week adding that any of company that fails the Process Audit will be shut perpetually until they comply hundred percent with the new recommended process.
He called on executives of the Community Development Associations, CDAs, to put aside the economic benefits they and their members derive from the companies and cooperate with the state government to enforce Industrial environmental standard.
He added that this is not the time to play politics with government’s good intentions but the best period to prioritise their health, welfare and well-being and stop pleading for industries when government’s regulatory actions affect them due to environmental infractions.
