BY GLORIA AKUDORO

The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has threatened to revoke the operational licences of recycling facilities that fail to comply with remediation protocols for 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 non-compliant operators in the South West Zone of the country.

Nine facilities 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 other violations.

“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,” he emphasized.

In a statement by the agency’s Assistant Director of Press, Nwamaka Ejiofor, the DG noted that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains committed to ensuring that Nigerians live in a healthy environment.

He warned that time was running out for errant facilities.
“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.”

Going forward, he said: “The issue of slag evacuation is an emergency and the polluter pays. Therefore, the operators must bear the cost of removal. You are to sign an undertaking assenting to the agreed compliance protocol, process necessary documents, and register with the Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) for the sector.”

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

In his intervention, the Director of Hazardous Materials Management and Environmental Safety at the Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency (OGEPA), Lawal Babatunde, accused the facilities of failing to abide by guidelines set 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.