BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja
In a fresh move to curtail rising air pollution across the country, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has engaged in series of talks with recyclers in Ogijo community.
Ogijo, a community in Ogun State has been at the centre of mind-blowing environmental pollution given the activities of deviant recyclers.
To this end, the DG of NESREA, Prof. Innocent Barikor threatened to revoke the operational licenses of recycling facilities that refused to comply with agreed protocol for remediation of Ogijo community.
Barikor issued the warning on Monday during a meeting with recyclers, whose facilities were sealed in a recent clampdown on recalcitrant facilities in the South West Zone.
News Rider reports that 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, lack of workers’ health surveillance, among others.
The DG stated that the agency commenced enforcement action as a necessary step to safeguard lives and restore environmental integrity, saying that the facilities will remain sealed until verifiable corrective actions are taken.
Barikor informed the recyclers that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration remains committed to ensuring that Nigerians live in a healthy environment, warning that time was running out for errant facilities.
He added: "What we have at present is anarchic and not sustainable. This is your opportunity to reset, to demonstrate responsibility and to bring your facilities into full compliance. NESREA has shown patience in the past, but that window is closing."
On the next step, he said that: "The issue of slag evacuation is an emergency and polluter pays, therefore the operators must bear the cost of removal.
"You are to sign an undertaken assenting to the agreed compliance protocol, process necessary documents and register with the Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) for the sector."
Barikor directed that the operators should commit to addressing facility specific environmental/ operational concerns, observe the penalties for indiscriminate dumping and non-compliance and take steps towards adopting cleaner technologies.
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 guidelines set out by the state government for the evacuation of slag from the community.
Present at the meeting were 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.
This was contained in a statement by the Assistant Director of Press, NESREA, Nwamaka Ejiofor on Tuesday in Abuja.
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