Ogijo Pollution: Agency Threatens Revocation Of Licences

National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has threatened to revoke the operational licences of recycling facilities that refuse to comply with the agreed-upon protocol for remediation of the Ogijo Community in Ogun State.

The director general of NESREA, Prof. Innocent Barikor, gave the warning during a meeting with recyclers whose facilities were sealed in a recent clampdown on recalcitrant facilities in the South West Zone of the country.

Nine facilities operating in the battery recycling sector in Ogijo were sealed for causing environmental pollution in the community through poor slag management, manual battery breaking, uncontrolled lead dust emissions, and a lack of workers’ health surveillance, among other things.

Prof. Barikor stated, “The enforcement action was taken as a necessary first step to safeguard lives and restore environmental integrity. Facilities will remain sealed until verifiable corrective actions are taken.”

“What we have at present is anarchic and not sustainable. This is your opportunity to reset, demonstrate responsibility, and bring your facilities into full compliance. NESREA has shown patience in the past, but that window is closing”, he said.

Prof. Barikor further directed that the operators commit to addressing facility-specific environmental/ operational concerns, observe the penalties for indiscriminate dumping and non-compliance, and take steps towards adopting cleaner technologies.

In his intervention, the director, Hazardous Materials Management and Environmental Safety for Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency (OGEPA), Lawal Babatunde, accused the facilities of failing to abide by the state government’s guidelines for evacuating slag from the community.

The executive secretary of the Alliance for Responsible Battery Recycling (ARBR), Mrs Miranda Amachree, and operators of facilities in the battery and base metal recycling sectors were present at the meeting.