Ogijo air pollution: Experts urge govt to declare Environmental State of Emergency

Photo caption: Stakeholders at the forum organized by Green Knowledge Foundation in partnership with Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADeV Nigeria) in Lagos.

Time is running out for the residents of the industrial hub of Ogijo, a community in Ogun State trapped under air pollution.  Except something urgent is done to change the narrative, the residents are at risk of environmental pollution as recalcitrant industries continue to pollute the entire environment with toxic emissions and slag.

The steel industries, which some of the residents  see as sources of employment opportunities for  numerous young men and women in the community, have been accused of suffocating the entire environment under the clouds of toxic emissions,  threatening both human lives and livelihoods.

Presenting the findings of the air quality monitoring in the town during a stakeholders’ meeting by Green Knowledge Foundation in partnership with Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADeV Nigeria), the air quality monitoring in the town showed particulate matter (PM) concentrations between 500–600 micrograms per cubic meter, 10 times above the World Health Organisation’s safe limits.

Tagged: “Celebration of International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies and Launching of Ogijo Air Quality Monitoring Report, experts warned that prolonged exposure to air pollution at such levels is nothing short of a death sentence, capable of causing respiratory infections, heart disease, strokes, and even cancer.

The video shut in the community and presented at the stakeholders’ forum revealed how thick smokes/ emissions from the smelting plants filled the air in Ogijo

The community’s lands were adorned with industrial waste.

Some of the community people interviewed said many children and women are already bearing the scars – testing positive for dangerously high levels of lead in their blood.

The gathering brought together community leaders, environment and health experts, and regulators.

Speaking at the end of the presentation, Executive Director of Green Knowledge Foundation, Weyinmi Okotie, described what is happening in Ogijo as “a public health crisis unfolding in real time.”

According to him, Ogijo is choking under toxic emissions from recycling plants and steel refiners, adding that families are being affected, breathing poisoned air every day.

“Many don’t even know the silent dangers they are exposed to,” he said, raising the alarm over the widespread use of slag – the hazardous by-product of smelting plants – as a cheap replacement for gravel in filling potholes and reclaiming land by the residents.

“What looks like a solution for bad roads is actually spreading poison. Slag carries heavy metals that seep into soil, into water, and eventually into the food chain,” he said

Okotie canvassed for Environmental State of Emergency in Ogijo.

Expressing concern over the findings of Ogijo’s air pollution, Executive Director of SRADeV Nigeria, Dr. Leslie Adogame, said that time to act is now, urging government to declare an Environmental State of Emergency in Ogijo and other industrial locations, where air quality had been compromised by emissions.

He warned that if Nigeria does not act now, the costs will not just be measured in hospital bills, but in lost futures.

He expressed concerns that   the crisis in Ogijo has extended far beyond the borders.

“The community of Ogijo is severely oppressed. Environmental Justice has to take place.

We talked about circular economy, concentration of industries in Ogun required highest level of environmental management. This should be in place, but that is not the situation”, he said.

He described what is happening in Ogijo as ” Cocktail of toxic hazardous chemicals,” urging the Federal Government to immediately emulate what the Lagos State Government is doing concerning air pollution.

According to him, air pollution knows no boundaries considering the implications, explaining that particles matter and heavy metals released in Ogijo do not remain in there, but travelled far, settle on farmlands, rivers and streams.

“What is grown in Ogijo today can end up in Lagos or Abuja tomorrow. This is how a local tragedy becomes a national emergency,” he said.

Investigations also showed that most of Ogijo’s recycling and smelting plants operate with little regard for environmental standards.

Workers often toil without protective gear, while toxic waste is dumped openly on lands where children play and farmers cultivate crops.

Environmental experts and civil society groups described Ogijo’s air pollution as “regulatory failure”.

They called on both the Federal and Ogun State Governments for declaration of an “Environmental State of Emergency” in Ogijo and other industrial hotspots in the country.

They want the federal government to establish a nationwide air quality monitoring system, modeled after Lagos State’s real-time AQI framework.

They urged the both the central and state authorities to commence strict enforcement of industrial emission standards and adoption of cleaner technologies.

They also advocated a comprehensive health interventions and biomonitoring programs, particularly for children

They emphasized the need for public awareness campaigns to educate communities about the dangers of slag and other industrial waste.

“Without urgent government intervention, more communities will suffer the same fate. Clean air is not a luxury – it is a fundamental human right,”Okotie said.

Representatives from Ogijo Community said they have made their complaints known to the Ogun State Government, who had visited community and industries severally for solutions.

They said that the most vulnerable to air pollution in the community were school children and market women.

The experts called the need for multi-stakeholder monitoring of air quality in Ogijo.