Ogun Launches Lead Remediation Drive in Ogijo After Contamination Findings

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Ogun State government has flagged off a remediation exercise aimed at freeing the Industrial town of Ogijo in Sagamu Local Government of the state of any form of lead contamination.

The development followed a detailed Process Audit of all Used Lead Acid Battery (ULAB) facilities and a series of tests conducted on soil, water, air, and blood samples from residents of the industrial town.

Last year, a New York Times and Examination investigation revealed that factories supplying recycled lead to the American auto industry had poisoned people in Ogijo. It found that seven out of 10 people had harmful levels of lead in their blood, recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as five micrograms per deciliter or above.

While five is the international standard, no amount of lead is safe.

Flagging off the remediation exercise, the General Manager of the State Environmental Protection Agency, Mr Kehinde Bello, said the state government, as part of the exercise, has begun to evacuate slag dumped in various communities within the town due to their hazardous nature, which will free residents of the communities who are not aware of the 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 said.

He assured those living in those communities and the entire Ogijo residents 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 as well as obey the state government’s standard procedures on slag management.

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 planting materials that will take-off the Lead that might have gone to the soil so that the places where the slag was dumped and has 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.

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