Alleged Lead Poisoning: Ogun govt begins remediation exercise in Ogijo

The Ogun State government has flagged-off a Remediation Exercise aimed at freeing Ogijo and neighboring communities from any form of Lead contamination. 

This followed detailed process audit of all Used Lead Acid Battery, ULAB facilities and series of tests carried out on soil, water, air and blood tests on residents of the Industrial town after an alleged lead poisoning.

Flagging off the remediation exercise, the General Manager of the State Environmental Protection Agency, OGEPA, Kehinde Bello said the state government as part of the exercise has began to evacuate slag dumped in various communities within the town due to their hazardous nature.

He noted that this will free residents of the communities who are not aware of their hazardous nature of any contamination. 

“ The evacuation of this slag will take us weeks to complete because lots of them are illegally dumped in many communities surrounding the ULAB facilities as the state government determined to evacuate them in the overall public interest and well-being of the residents.”

He assured those living in Ogijo and close by communities that the era of illegal dumping of slag is over as the state government has directed all the ULAB facilities to upgrade their technology by deploying automatic battery breakers to their system which will reduce slag generation to the barest minimum.

Also speaking, the Director of Hazardous Material Management, Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency, OGEPA, Mr Babatunde Lawal said aside from the evacuation of slag in those communities, there will be a bio-remediation exercise through planting of materials that will take-off the Lead that might have gone to the soil so that the places where the slag were dumped and now been evacuated will be free from lead contamination.

He, however, urged the ULAB facilities to run their operations responsibly and sustainably for the betterment of the environment and safety of the public.

Meanwhile, the Director, Inspectorate and Compliance, OGEPA, Mr Tunde Bolarinwa, said the Agency will continue to monitor the ULAB facilities to ensure they comply with the state government’s new standards operational guidelines as anyone of them that fails to comply with the new order will be sanctioned.