Ogun shuts down Chinese factories for environmental Infractions

The Ogun State government has shut down two Chinese factories over waste management issues.

The affected companies, Yibao Industrial Limited and Ronchang Industrial Park are located in Bara village along the Sagamu–Abeokuta Expressway and Ewu- Osile, opposite Julius Berger yard on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, respectively.

The Managing Director of Ogun State Waste Management Authority [OGWAMA], Abayomi Hunye, said the agency shut down the two companies after several warnings.

Mr Hunye said the companies contravene Section 17 of the Ogun State Waste Management Law 2020 by neglecting to clean their environment and littering their premises with waste.

He said the companies had been preventing assigned waste collectors from evacuating waste from their facilities since 2021, while their unaccredited collectors dump waste at odd hours on the Sagamu—Abeokuta and Lagos—Ibadan Expressways.

“The essence of shutting them down is to ensure that they comply with the standard ways of managing wastes in the state. We have served them several notices and warnings, and they have refused to comply. We have even gone to their premises for inspections several times to counsel them to clean their environment and engage government-approved waste collectors, but they were unyielding,” the official said.

“They both engage unaccredited waste collectors who have no capacity to manage their waste. That is why their premises are dirty, thereby exposing residents of the state to unnecessary odour and possible underground water infections from their untreated waste.

“So we have no alternative than to shut them down in the overriding public interest as their behaviour and action smacks of gross disrespect to constituted authority, especially from companies owned by foreigners who are hellbent on destroying our environment.

“We will not fold our hands and watch these companies destroy our common patrimony with their I don’t care attitude, which they will not try in their home country,” he said.

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Mr Hunye advised companies to operate within the state’s waste management laws or be sanctioned.

He also urged community development associations (CDAs) and other non-governmental organisations to act as whistle-blowers against companies engaged in improper waste management.