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….Govt serves 7-day abatement notice to dredging firm
Apparently disturbed by the rate of environmental degredation and other negative impacts of the activities of sand dredgers in their communities, residents of Magboro have called on Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun to urgently intervene on dilapidated roads and environmental degradation in their areas.
The residents, who lamented that pregnant women and children constantly involved in road accidents in the community due to degradation of Abule-Oko Road, a major road serving about 10 communities in the area by the dredging company, said that a pro-active you intervention by the state government would save lives and property in the axis.
The communities, comprising Gaun, New Generation Estate, Peace Garden Estate, Teachers’ Land, Abule-Oko, Unity Estate, Araromi, Pathfinders, Ifesowapo and Glory Land Estate, said the dredging company had made the road in the area unmotorable.
Residents of communities said that the the dredging firm moved to the Ogun River, Gaun town, for dredging activities and due to the presence of the company, over 100 trucks now ply the road everyday and night, causing environmental impact and noise pollution in the area.
When TheStory visited the communities, it was observed that most of the roads in the community are in deplorable state, especially Abule-Oko Road which connects other communities. Many vehicles had hectic time navigating the axis, while even sand trucks found it difficult to ply some portions of the road due to the rate of dilapidation.
Speaking with New Telegraph, the Chairman of Abule-Oko Development Association,Pastor Kunle Adebanjo, said the road is “terribly bad”, adding that every year the CDA grade the road twice because government’s impact is not felt at all and in the community.
He said: “The dredging company came here and destroyed the road, lots of people find it difficult to pass this road, people selling on the road have locked up their shops due to low patronage,we talked to the dredging company to engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to repair the road, but they refused to do it.
“We want government’s intervention, let them talk to the dredging company to do the road for us, they should do CSR for us. The road is important because it serves 10 communities in this area.
“This is the only road people ply to get to their destination. The road is terribly bad, when the dredging company came in with about 200 trucks; they spoilt the road for us. Even okada people charge exorbitant prices because of the bad road.
“We are calling on government to tell these people to fix our road, we have been doing it ourselves. We do this road by community efforts twice a year. We came to fix the road, but the dredging company stopped us.”
Also speaking, Chairman Community Development Association, Golden Estate Teachers’ land, Igbayemi Ojo,
said he came to the area in 2010, saying that the roads’ condition became deteriorated when the dredgersbegan the dredging activities which brought about influx of heavy duty trucks.
“I have two cars, I can’t drive them, when it rains, the road is not passable,” he lamented.
On her part, a trader,Olanrewaju Opeyemi, lamented the deplorable condition of the road had affected her sales and those of other whip owners, saying” whenever it rains, the road become impassable. Yesterday, it was worse than this, people don’t buy things from us again, pregnant women are falling down from okadas because the road is bad. Government should come and help us, if rain falls, it is worse than this,” she lamented.
Meanwhile, the cries of the communities led the Ogun State Ministry of Environment to send its officials to access the damage done to the area by the dredging company as alleged in their petition.
The government officials, on visiting the dredging site demanded from representatives of the company their Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, which the firm couldn’t provided.
This, it was learnt , forced the government officials to serve the dredging company, Capital Waves Nigeria Limited seven days abatement notice for operating and degrading the roads in the area. They also ordered the company to come to the ministry with its EIA approval within seven days.
The government officials who craved anonymity, said if the firm failed to do so, the premises would be shutdown, with punishment meted out to the offenders.
One of officials also confirmed that Abule-Oko road is in deplorable condition, saying that with the few minutes spent monitoring activities on the road, about 20 trucks had passed, which he said depreciated the quality of the road.
