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Tag: Lafarge Ewekoro

  • ‘The world is quiet while we die’ (3)

    ‘The world is quiet while we die’ (3)

    Despair persists nine years after The Nation exposed Lafarge’s devastation of Ewekoro

    Cement company commissions school, other CSR projects following investigative reports

    Host communities’ health, safety form core values of our operations – Lafarge Africa

    Strolling through Ewekoro is like sifting through the crust of a previous existence. Even in the cheerless lull of a dreary afternoon, the village repulses like dead foetus. The bushes look green from afar. Closer, the greenery bleeds into thick grey blotches of cement dust. The cocoa yam leaves, cassava plants and vanishing palm trees bear insolent marks of industrial tenant, Lafarge Africa’s cement waste.

    Amid the bleakness, however, stands a block of three classrooms meant to host a secondary school. Painted in two shades of green, and sited in Egbado-Ajegunle, a village 30 minutes walk from Ewekoro, the building is Lafarge Africa’s urgent response to The Nation’s investigative reportage on the devastation it has wrought on Ewekoro, the immediate host community to its cement production plant. In a previous series, The Nation revealed that despite the devastation wrought on Ewekoro by the multinational cement company, the community has no school or health facility.

    In response to The Nation’s expose, the multinational cement company commissioned, on Thursday, December 14, “a block comprising three classrooms, office and toilets.” The foundation stone of the project bears the inscription: “Built by Lafarge, A member of Holcim, in conjunction with the Ewekoro community.”

    The following day, Friday, December 15, the cement company held its Community Day celebration. At the celebration marking its 2023 Community Day, Lafarge Africa launched a series of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects in Ewekoro.

    At the event held in Egbado-Ajegunle, which highlighted the company’s CSR projects in Ewekoro and its 11 satellite communities, the Chairman of the Ewekoro Community Relations Committee, Dotun Oderinde, who was represented by Gbemisola Sunday, commended Lafarge Africa for its contributions to its host communities and pleaded for more employment opportunities for their youths.

    “The company has been doing well for these communities. Various projects have been launched, and many women and youths have benefited from their CSR programme. Over 200 students are benefiting from their bursary award every year. They give uniforms and notebooks to indigent pupils in various schools. But, we want Lafarge to increase its budget for CSR because of inflation in the country. We need more cooperation in the area of employment of sons and daughters of the community too,” he said.

    Also speaking at the event, Prince Bola Awesu, an indigene and community leader in Ewekoro commended Lafarge Africa for initiating “transformative projects,” stressing that the cement company “has consistently supported its host communities and met their needs over the past few years.

    He said, “In healthcare, they provide facilities and initiatives that have benefited our people, and despite challenging climates, they continue to assist local farmers with essential farm implements. Additionally, the company contributes to education through bursaries and scholarships, which has enabled less privileged students to complete their studies. In Ewekoro, Lafarge has built a modern town hall and just yesterday commissioned the first secondary school in our vicinity.”

    Lafarge Africa’s Group Managing Director, Lolu Alade-Akinyemi, on his part, stated “At Lafarge Africa, community engagement isn’t just an obligation; it’s deeply ingrained as one of our values in sustainability. Our annual Community Day Celebration is a testament to our dedication to giving back and nurturing sustainable development in the places we call home.”

    Alade-Akinyemi commended the state government, traditional rulers, and the Community Relations Committee for creating an enabling environment for the company’s business.

    Beyond the pageant…

    Beyond the buzz of the CSR initiatives, outside the perimeters of Egbado-Ajegunle, Ewekoro subsists as a dispiriting picture of desolateness and neglect. Seasons bring nothing to this gulch save a harsh intimate anecdote painfully scrawled here and there, along barren footpaths, and on paint and stone of several houses tottering and yawning, like vastly crushed faces with holes big enough for ants, rodents and bats to dart in and out of their gaping chasms.

    “Nothing thrives in Ewekoro. That is why Lafarge finds it difficult to construct any project of note in the community. It would be unacceptable to education and health authorities for the company to build a school here (in Ewekoro). They know they would be endangering pupils and minors, in particular, as they would be exposed to cement dust pollution from their factory,” said Abiodun Otun, a plumber and former resident of Ewekoro.

    The greatest damage, however, is done to the farmlands. “We can’t farm here anymore. I used to cultivate ofada, cocoa, cassava and palm kernel seeds. I used to produce palm oil from palm kernel seeds and sell it to wholesalers. I had a lot of people working with me. Families sent their children to learn palm oil making under me but when Lafarge arrived in Ewekoro, I lost everything. My late husband’s farmland died from pollution. My farm too. We suffered huge losses. My children and grandchildren visited recently but they couldn’t sleep over. They had to go and sleep in a guest house in Itori. They have decided to relocate me to live with them in Ibadan,” said Ajiun Okelola, widow.

    Ghosts beneath the waters

    A trip around the village leads to greying tracts that coalesce where several bush paths meet and veer to the forgotten footpath to the Osun River.

    The river, also widely known as the Ewekoro River, sated the thirst of the natives and irrigated Ewekoro and neighbouring communities’ expansive farmlands.

    En route to the forest, the reporter was hit by an eerie sense of Deja Vu; just as it was during my first visit to the river, nine years ago, a pall of darkness floated above the swampy expanse into the groove of the river.

    In the groove, all kinds of things drifted with filth and stagnant waste to litter the waterway: weeds, jetsam, tadpoles, frogs, animal cadavers, and a lot yet unidentifiable in the deep of the river.

    It took time to hear what the river seemed to be saying and with the wind nudging them, the foliage too. It becomes difficult to understand why the forest should have a voice; the crickets chirped like old ghosts from the undergrowth and a light wind peeled back the greenery to reveal a sand grave and what is still left of an expanse that once heaved with cash crops.

    Far beneath the swamp of thicket and debris littering the river lays a deadly deposit of quicksand. Along the marsh leading to the deathtrap, a giant rat is seen gnawing at something, perhaps, a bat cadaver thus littering the swamp with the bones of yet another ghost.

    There seemed to be too many ghosts beneath and about the Osun River: the ghosts of sumptuous fishes that gradually turned toxic, according to the natives; the ghosts of men: farmers and fishermen and their endeavours in time of youth and the haunting lilt of folk song sung by the village women while they harvested palm kernel to make palm oil.

    Under the prod of hurrying feet, the sand shifted with water as if to wipe, once more, footprints of the forgotten farmers that tilled the vanishing farmlands and the crickets’ chirp added weight to the wind thus parting the shrubbery atop the river to show even more clearly, the toxic wreck that the river has become.

    All the details merged to accentuate the tragedy that has befallen the river and the vanishing farmlands.

    Before Lafarge arrived in the area, the Ewekoro LGA had five rivers which were used for irrigation, fishing and drinking purposes. The rivers were Ewekoro (also known as Osun River), Amititi, Sofuntere, Abalaye and Olorekore rivers. But the cement company reportedly channeled away the five rivers into its quarry causing the rivers to dry up. In Ewekoro, the Osun River – also known as the Ewekoro River – has equally been destroyed. It is currently overrun by cement slurry, stagnant filth, and a swamp of weeds.

    According to multiple scientific studies, the persistent discharge of industrial waste and cement slurry into Ewekoro’s waterbodies, which used to be the community’s sole source of natural water, made water from the river unsafe for cooking and human consumption.

    The natives can’t fish in it. They had to stop fishing in the river when the fish tasted funny. The fish tasted contaminated and dry in the mouth, like bad wood, according to a community chieftain. Ever since the river’s flow got impeded and the water got contaminated by Lafarge Africa’s operations, life has worsened for the residents of Ewekoro.

    The loss of the Ewekoro River to pollution knelled the death of the community’s once thriving agricultural economy. It is sadder to watch the Osun River grow fetid and stagnant with filth even as the community suffers the extinction of its agricultural touchstone.

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    A harvest full of toxins

    Aside from Ewekoro’s loss of its waterbodies, food and cash crops get destroyed as farm produce is affected by cement dust released into the atmosphere. The Nation’s findings revealed the extent of environmental degradation of Ewekoro’s farmlands; for instance, plantains harvested from a farm bore marks of stunted growth.

    In a recent study published in 2023, and titled, “Assessment of Radium Equivalent Activity and Total Annual Effective Dose in Cassava” cultivated around Ewekoro Cement Factory, a team of researchers led by Olusegun Adewoyin of the Departments of Physics and Biological Sciences, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, discovered that the health of residents, children and infants in particular, are imperiled by their consumption of the food crop.

    In the study which was conducted to assess the radionuclide content of the food crop, 27 samples of both arable soil and cassava tubers were studied at different sites to the epicenter of the mining activity.

    The results revealed the highest activity concentrations of radionuclide content respectively, in the soil to be at Site 1, which was 50 m away from the cement mining site. All the results, according to the study, were higher than the recommended safe limits by a factor of two. “Moreover, the Total Annual Effective Dose of exposure by oral ingestion of cassava tubers for different age groups revealed children to have the highest level of exposure with the highest mean value of 7.98 mSv. Therefore, the results of the total averages of annual effective doses due to consumption of the three natural radionuclides in cassava tubers and other products by adults, children, and infants were found to be above the average annual ingestion radiation dose due to natural sources,” according to the study.

    According to health experts, cancer is the major consequence of ingesting radionuclides. Radium, via oral exposure, is known to cause bone, head, and nasal passage tumours in humans, and radon, via inhalation exposure, causes lung cancer in humans. Uranium may cause lung cancer and tumours of the lymphatic and hematopoietic tissues.

    In another study carried out to determine the extent to which Lafarge Africa’s operations affect agricultural output in the area, it was discovered that the company’s activities affect agricultural output negatively through environmental degradation.

    The study which was anchored by Kola Subair, PhD, of the School of Business, Media and Information Technology, American Heritage University, San Bernadino, United States of America (USA) used farmers in Ewekoro as the target population and Owode (Owode is not within the same LGA as Ewekoro) farmers as a control population.

    The management staff and employees of Lafarge and farmers in the studied locations were respondents. In all, 111 respondents made up of 11 staff of Lafarge and 100 farmers from the studied locations were carefully selected. One management staff and 10 other staff of the cement company were selected through a systematic sampling procedure using the staff list as the sampling frame.

    Fifty farmers were also randomly selected from the list of farmers made available by the Village Extension Agents (VEAS) of the Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme (OGADEP) for each study area.

    In its gross margin and profit analyses the study shows that the gross margin for average farmers in  Owode shows a considerable reduction in cost as the farm size increases while that of Ewekoro increases along with its farm size. This is corroborated by the lower total variable cost (TVC) of N10,538.44 naira incurred by Owode farmers compared to that of N13,686.15 incurred by Ewekoro farmers.

    Worse still, the Ewekoro farmers earn less revenue compared to Owode farmers. The revenue earned by an average farmer in Ewekoro was N47, 744.79 while that of an Owode farmer was N61, 745.60 per harvest period.

    A history of futile protests

    In a letter addressed to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2001, the community sought the assistance of the former president in taming the scourge of Lafarge’s operations in their neighbourhood.  In the letter, titled: “SOS to President Olusegun Obasanjo,” the community claimed that the cement company had not “shown sympathy” to their plight and urged the President to be magnanimous in coming to their aid.

    In another eight-paragraph letter written by the community’s attorney to the cement company’s management, the community demanded reparations from the company to the tune of N2.5 billion.

    In 1985, through a publication in the now defunct National Concord newspaper of December 4, the community called the attention of the then military governor of Ogun State, Captain Mohammed Lawal to the company’s activities. The community also contracted a law firm to write the cement company on February 10, 1993, to demand reparation for loss and damages suffered by the company’s limestone blasting and cement production activities but the cement company customarily rebuffed their effort.

    On February 20, 1995, the community embarked on a protest at the company’s factory gates at Ewekoro with placards bearing the inscriptions: “No more blasting without building houses for us; “Enough is enough, 30 years (1960-1990) lease expired without any payment;” “Fresh negotiation required for second term (1991-2020) 30 years lease.”

    Politics of a lease agreement

    The natives claim that Ewekoro communities are being defrauded of their dues conferred upon them by a lease agreement signed on January 13, 1964, on behalf of WAPCO now Lafarge-WAPCO by the Western regional government of the period. They claim the lease was extended over 500 years contrary to provisions of the signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which compelled the then Ministry of Land to sign a 30-year basic lease agreement with WAPCO commencing on October 27, 1963. The agreement reportedly compelled the cement company to pay annual rents to the land owners through the Western regional government, making the rents revisable after 20 years and every 10 years thereafter.

    To this, Lafarge responded: “To the best of our knowledge, there is an existing lease from the appropriate authorities which Lafarge is operating in Ewekoro. Anyone with copies of other agreements should produce such for all to see.”

    We have executed several CSR projects in Ewekoro – Lafarge Africa

    Above the din of native dissent, Lafarge Africa demonstrates commendable performance as a responsible corporate citizen, according to the company’s Head of Corporate Communications,  Ginikanwa Frank-Durugbor. Shedding light on Lafarge Africa’s social interventions in Ewekoro, she said, “We acknowledge our host communities as valued partners, working collaboratively towards a shared future. Through job creation, annual CSR interventions, and various positive contributions to the ecosystem, we continually enhance the livelihoods of the community residents. Our commitment lies in leaving enduring positive impacts that benefit society at large.”

    According to her, several CSR projects have been successfully executed in Ewekoro, encompassing a variety of initiatives including the construction of a Community Townhall, a block comprising three classrooms, office and toilets, the installation of boreholes and overhead tanks for water supply, construction of public toilet facilities, lockup shops and the implementation of drainage systems.

    “We also provide non-infrastructural interventions including farmers support scheme, bursary awards to tertiary students as well as elders support to the elderly. In addition to these are youth empowerment initiatives to the residents of the Ewekoro community where we distribute things like tricycles (Keke NAPEPS), sewing machines, motorbikes, and freezers to enable the youth to run their business and improve their livelihood,” she said.

    Relief at last?

    In the wake of The Nation’s reportage, Lafarge Africa launched a host of CSR projects including a block of three classrooms meant for a secondary school. Even so, several residents accord the company’s CSR projects a quizzical glance. Some argue it is a knee-jerk reaction to what it deems uncomplimentary media mention.

    “Everything will stop immediately the media attention stops. All the meetings they have with our traditional rulers only benefit the traditional rulers and their cliques,” laments a member of the community.

    Corroborating her, a member of the community’s chieftaincy council revealed that traditional rulers are unable to speak the truth about their condition because they fear losing the contract opportunities and patronage they enjoy from Lafarge Africa. Consequently, they seek to quash dissent from any quarter within the company’s host communities.

    It would be recalled that Baale Gabriel Akinremi suffered a persistent backlash from fellow traditional rulers in the community, nine years ago, in the wake of The Nation’s exposure to the environmental degradation and health hazards posed by Lafarge’s operations. He was singled out for granting The Nation an interview, even though he wasn’t the only news medium interviewed. Other chiefs pleaded anonymity. Eventually, Akinremi caved into bullying from his colleagues and state government officials, and by the second instalment of a five-part investigative series, he was begging The Nation to stop publishing the reports. The Nation would go on to complete the series against all odds.

    Nine years after the initial exposure much still needs to be done to alleviate the living conditions of the people of Ewekoro.

    From the point of view of an environment management practitioner, Professor Michael Ajide Oyinloye of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Environmental Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, there is need to significantly and painlessly reduce the volume of carbon dioxide emissions resulting from Ewekoro cement factory considering the importance of carbon dioxide in the greenhouse gas effects in global warming.

    He said, “Considering the quantity of carbon dioxide produced per ton of cement, the use of mineral admixtures, which would otherwise, be landfilled is a must for the environment and the cement industries.

    “Effort geared toward reclaiming the quarry site should be extended further by actually transforming quarry site into parks and gardens for recreational purpose via such projects like afforestation, scarification and final conversion into animal zoos and gardens where people can visit and pay a token that will be used in maintaining such projects.”

    Professor Oyinloye stated that the location of cement industries should be far from residential areas to avoid the menace of noise, vibration, dust and heavy vehicular movement, and the government should look into the pollution control policy, putting into consideration that on no occasion should any residential building be allowed for approval within 1km to any cement factory to reduce the rate of inhalation harmful substances by the people.”

    That’s in the long run, in the short run, neither the Federal Ministries of Health, Environment or Solid Minerals nor their counterparts in the host state to Lafarge Africa, Ogun, have shown any interest in the plight of the natives of Ewekoro.

    However, The Nation’s findings revealed that aside from Lafarge Africa’s rush of CSR projects in Ewekoro, it has brokered a meeting with aggrieved residents of the community. The meeting which was supposed to be held on Friday, December 22, has been rescheduled for Thursday, December 28.

    To futility and beyond

    As Lafarge prepares to meet its hosts on the drawing board, there are hopes that the meeting would signal new vistas of constructive engagement cum mutually beneficent co-existence between the industrial tenant and its host community.

    Against the backdrop of the planned meeting, dystopia persists in Ewekoro. Despair shines like final fate in the pealing grey of its dying glen as the natives bemoan their sacrificed lives, sighing through fruitless streets.

    Their sighs rattle the air with an eerie resonance as the township recoils, like a dirt palace abandoned on a tract indecent miles from the Government House in Oke Mosan, Abeokuta.

    “After your reports, what next? You were here nine years ago. Government feigned interest. Lafarge hastened a series of CSR programmes. And that was it. Your stories can’t provoke the kind of miracle that we want. Even if it would happen, it won’t be in my lifetime,” said a traditional chief in Ewekoro.

    Left to him, the devastation of his birth land may continue unchecked as the government and regulatory authorities are oblivious to their miseries.

    He said, “In some way, I believe they are simply waiting for my generation to die off. Afterwards, they will buy what’s left of Ewekoro off our children, for a token.”

    Only then would the cancelling out be complete, perhaps. Until then, the embattled natives will continue to distil survival from heartbreak, sleeping and waking in homes completely buried in sludge and cement dust.

    Parents will recall wistfully when Ewekoro pulsed and prospered by its agricultural economy even as their children depart in search of greener pastures.

    Those who pack up and leave often take a look around before their departure, knowing they will never return. Those who choose to stay are too stubborn, too stoic, and too poor to have much choice.

    ‘We have successfully executed several CSR projects in Ewekoro’ – Lafarge

    Head, Corporate Communications, Ginikanwa Frank-Durugbor, sheds light on multinational’s social interventions in Ewekoro.

    What measures have been taken by Lafarge Africa to mitigate the health impact of the environmental pollution of Ewekoro on the natives of its host community?

    At Lafarge Africa, Health and Safety is a core value and is embedded throughout our operations. At our Ewekoro plant, we continue to implement the following measures to address environmental impacts associated with cement manufacturing activities: I. We continuously ensure our operations are carried out according to the standard environmental regulations of the nation. ii.  We have installed the most recent dust abatement equipment which is the bag house system to filter dust from our operations before exiting the stack chimneys and we have a robust maintenance system in place to ensure its functionality. iii. As part of our responsibility to the Holcim group and to ensure good environmental compliance, we have installed online monitoring equipment in our plants; to measure our dust emissions continuously. This equipment is also calibrated at regular schedules, to ensure there is no deviation from regulatory standards.  iv. We periodically engage community residents through focus group discussions (a combination of the community chiefs, Men, women and Youth) using a government-accredited consultant to evaluate the impact of Lafarge operations on the neighbouring communities. The subject of discussion usually entails common diseases, livelihood, sources of income and advantages/disadvantages of Lafarge operation around the communities.

    Feedback from these discussions is usually submitted alongside our statutory environmental report to the regulatory authority.  After submission, officials of the Ministry of Environment come for a verification visit to the communities to validate the feedback received. So far, we have not been notified of any breaches relating to the health of villagers.

     How does Lafarge Africa evaluate the effectiveness of those measures? What are the yardsticks used to determine their success or otherwise?

    Regularly, we monitor our impacts to ensure that they are within the regulatory limits. For example. A)  Noise and vibration during every of our blasting operations and all data from the last 2 years were below the Federal Ministry of Environment for noise and below W.H.O. standards of 5 mm/s for vibration.

    B) Quarterly, a government-accredited environmental consultant visits the plant to carry out measurements of our stack emissions and run-off water discharges. All measurement data are within the regulatory standards.

    C) Monthly dust and Noise measurement of the LAP fence line is done by 3rd party consultant to evaluate our impact.

    D) A periodic comprehensive environmental audit of our facility is a statutory requirement according to regulation. From the last environmental audit, analytical data from the soil, water, particulate matter, and vegetation were all below the Nigerian regulatory limit.

    We conduct a periodic audit of our system by the Holcim group, Federal Ministry of Environment, Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Standard Organization of Nigeria and State Ministry of Environment.

    We also measure effectiveness through Compliance Monitoring by the regulatory agencies. 

    Would you say the company has accorded Ewekoro access to the best CSR initiatives (in medical and social projects for instance) vis-a-vis the damage wreaked on the community by its operations?

    Lafarge demonstrates commendable performance as a responsible corporate citizen. We acknowledge our host communities as valued partners, working collaboratively towards a shared future. Through job creation, annual CSR interventions, and various positive contributions to the ecosystem, we continually enhance the livelihoods of the community residents. Our commitment lies in leaving enduring positive impacts that benefit society at large.

    Several CSR projects have been successfully executed in Ewekoro, encompassing a variety of initiatives. For example, Construction of a Community Townhall.  Construction of a block comprising three classrooms, office and toilets. Installation of boreholes and overhead tanks for water supply.

    Construction of public toilet facilities. Construction of lockup shops. Implementation of drainage systems, among other endeavours.

    We also provide non-infrastructural interventions including a farmers’ support scheme, bursary awards to tertiary students as well as elder support to the elderly.

    In addition to these are youth empowerment initiatives for the residents of the Ewekoro community where we distribute things like Keke Napeps, sewing machines, motorbikes, and freezers to enable the youth to run their businesses and improve their Livelihood.

    Would you say Lafarge has executed CSR programmes in Ewekoro on the same scale as in other communities in the Local Government Area (LGA)?

    All our 12 host communities are assigned an equal budget yearly from the current allocated annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) budget for equity and fairness. Lafarge executes CSR programmes in the Ewekoro community on the same scale as all other host communities in the Local Government.

    How does Lafarge Africa evaluate the effectiveness and success of its CSR initiatives in Ewekoro? What are the yardsticks used to determine the success or otherwise of social projects, for instance?

    All our host communities are equally important to us and we highly value good relations with them.

    Our evaluation framework places significant emphasis on ensuring the sustainability and lasting benefits of our projects in Ewekoro. We assess projects based on criteria such as the long-term impact, encompassing both the duration and breadth of influence within the community. Additionally, we evaluate initiatives concerning their capacity-building aspects, the empowerment of community members, and their potential to cultivate self-reliance. To gauge the success of our CSR interventions in Ewekoro, we employ various tools and methodologies. These include active stakeholder engagement to understand community needs, feedback mechanisms to gather beneficiary input, impact assessment studies, and continuous monitoring and evaluation processes. These measures collectively aid us in determining the effectiveness and overall impact of our initiatives on the community’s sustainable development.

    What in your estimation may constitute the most realistic and long-term solution to Lafarge Africa’s pollution of Ewekoro?

    Our commitment is to keep running our operations in line with the principles of sustainable development and comply with applicable legal, regulatory, industry and corporate requirements.

    What is the annual budget each host community gets for CSR projects.

    At Lafarge Africa Plc (LAP), our people and communities are at the heart of our social interventions.

    Therefore, on an annual basis, we ensure that our host communities receive a CSR allocation. For the Ewekoro community specifically, N216million is allocated and this is shared equally among the 12 host communities. (This information is also available in our annual reports).

    Is there a way Lafarge monitors the disbursement and implementation in order to ascertain that they are used for the intended social projects?

    The CSR allocation is not disbursed directly to the host communities in cash, but is used for projects identified by each host community.

    We have developed four CSR pillars based on the areas of the most need for the host communities, which are Education, Empowerment, Health and Safety and Shelter and Infrastructure. The host communities then identify projects based on these CSR pillars and submit their project request through the Community Relations Committee (which is made up of representatives from each of the 12 host communities, as well as LAP ). We ensure that the projects are implemented by vendors from the communities, who are accredited through a procurement process, to boost the local economy.  In line with the agreed project milestones, payment is made to the vendors.

    To ensure the projects are properly delivered, there is a sub committee of the Community Relations Committee, known as the Project Monitoring Committee, responsible for monitoring each project to ensure it is properly delivered. In addition, we conduct regular monitoring and evaluation exercises to ascertain the impact and beneficiaries of each CSR project.”

  • ‘The world is quiet while we die’

    ‘The world is quiet while we die’

    Ewekoro lived off the highway. Now, it dies by it. A dusty silhouette of commercialised ruin. At dawn, a thick pall of cement dust hovers atop the roof-peaks of the town, before raining like a sand storm from a grey, indifferent sky. At night, the dust falls like snowflakes until the township disappears under its fog, and its thickening debris cobwebs the sleep of the solemn wild. Eventually, it blankets the houses and greenery like a greyish fabric of ash.

    Nine years after The Nation exposed the devastation unleashed on Ewekoro via multinational cement company, Lafarge Africa Plc’s discharge of cement slurry and exhaust into its water bodies and atmosphere, the situation has barely improved.

    Within and about Ewekoro, despair shines like final fate. “Living here is akin to subjecting yourself to a cruel and unusual form of punishment,” said Bode Adekunle. “Anyone who wishes to prosper in life must get out of Ewekoro,” said the 19-year-old.

    Amid the bleakness, Adekunle’s voice pealed, like the tragic knell of a civilisation in its final death pangs.

    Corroborating him, Sakiru Lasisi, 21, condemned his grandparents for yielding their land and birthright quite cheaply to Lafarge. He also condemned his parents for failing to exact compensation from the cement company for the devastation it wrought and still wreaks on their birth place. “They gave them the opportunity to take our land and maltreat us. Will they try this in the Niger Delta? They will never attempt what they do to us in Warri,” he said.

    Adekunle and Lasisi were 10 and 12 years of age respectively at the time of The Nation’s first visit to Ewekoro. Like many of their peers, they plotted their escape from the town since their early teens. Bode currently sells building materials in Lagos while Lasisi works as a commercial transporter.

    Likewise, Nofiu Ologunebi left Ewekoro in 2014, just after he turned 17. Now 26, the Lagos-based maintenance engineer admitted that he has no plans to relocate to his hometown.

    “I have persistently told my younger ones to relocate immediately, anytime the opportunity arises. Many of us who relocated to Lagos do not want our siblings to waste away unduly in Ewekoro,” he said.

    Despite his disenchantment with the status quo, Ologunebi cannot entirely abandon his homeland. He is a part of the Ewekoro Youth Indigenes (EYI), a pressure group comprising sons and daughters of the soil on a mission to reclaim the lost glory of their birth land.

    His mother, Shakirat, who is also the Iyalode of Ewekoro, has equally been fighting for the interest of Ewekoro in her own way. For instance, she is currently embroiled in a fierce tussle with a faction of the community’s traditional council perceived to be loyal to Lafarge and accommodating of the company’s activities.

    Just recently, the Iyalode was arrested and hauled to the Ogun State Police Command in Elewe Eran, in Abeokuta, Ogun State by the other faction, which claimed that she was unsettling their town by her quest for environmental justice and reparation from Lafarge. According to the female chief, the fight cannot be left completely to the youths.

    Her nephew, Asiwaju Olamide Shodipe, heir to the former Asiwaju of Ewekoro, late Chief Shodipe, had also being a part of the clamour for reparation before the demise of his father. According to him, he and his peers would not relent until they secure justice for the entire local council.

    The N1trillion suit…

    Four years ago, members of the community dragged Lafarge Africa Plc, before the Federal High Court in Abeokuta, accusing the company of polluting and destroying their environment through the mining of limestone.

    In a class action suit filed through their lawyer, Idris Faro, the community members are demanding N1trillion in damages as compensation for the alleged “pollution and destruction of the plaintiffs’ town, farmlands, rivers, air and general environment, arising from limestone mining and cement manufacture for a continous period of 60 years,” by Lafarge.

    They want the N1trn damages to be paid with an annual interest of 15 per cent until the final liquidation of the sum.

    They also prayed the court to order Lafarge to refund them the money they spent in filing the lawsuit.

    The plaintiffs – Asiwaju Olamide Shodipe, Alhaji Raufu Akintokun, Shakirat Ologunebi, Ayinde Akintokun and Olufemi Tewogbade – filed the N1trn lawsuit on behalf of themselves and the entire Ewekoro community.

    Aside from Lafarge Africa Plc, they also  joined as defendants six persons, whom they described as the company’s “lackeys, stooges and errand boys”.

    The six other defendants are Chief Satari Balogun (now deceased), Chief Joshua Akintokun-Oniyitan, Chief Ayantan Shodiya, Chief Tajudeen Adebowale, Chief Taye Akintokun and Prince Bola Awesu.

    In their second amended statement of claim, the plaintiffs said Lafarge sited its largest plant in Nigeria in their community at Km 64, Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, alleging that the company’s activities in the last 60 years had taken a toll on their well-being and means of livelihood.

    They recalled that the defunct Western Region Government of Nigeria acquired part of their land and gave to West African Portland Cement Company (WAPCO) for limestone mining and cement manufacture.

    The said WAPCO was later acquired by Lafarge, which carried on with the business, “using powerful explosives like dynamite in the mining and blasting of limestone in Ewekoro town, which, apart from causing disturbing noise, has damaged a lot of houses in Ewekoro town.”

    The plaintiffs said, “A huge expanse of our farmland, measuring 426.599 hectares, which were not even part of the original acquisition, have been entered into by the 1st defendant (Lafarge) and it mines limestone thereon.

     “The cement dust from the giant chimneys of the 1st defendant’s plants billows into the air, polluting the plaintiffs’ town, farmlands and rivers for a continuous period of 60 years.

    “The cement dust has depleted the population of fishes, crabs and other animals in the rivers in and around Ewekoro land. Also, the livestock in Ewekoro have reduced in number as a result of inhalation of cement and pollution of the grassland where they graze.

    “Farmlands, measuring about 1,000,000 hectares, have been polluted by cement from the 1st defendant’s plant for about 60 years, destroying crops.

    “Dwelling houses in Ewekoro town have been splatered with cement dust billowing from the defendant’s plants.

    “The livelihood of about 300,000 farmers and fishermen, including the plaintiffs, have been destroyed by the 1st defendant’s mining of limestone and cement manufacturing for about 60 years in Ewekoro town.

    “Ewekoro inhabitants suffer from asthma, skin diseases, respiratory diseases etc, due to cement inhalation and this has led to loss of several lives over the years. The 1st defendant has made trillion of profits or more for about 60 years in Ewekoro land.”

    The court reportedly ruled in favour of Lafarge, stressing that the natives lacked the right to institute legal action against the company. The court held that only the state government may institute such action against the company. “Right now, we are taking the case to the Court of Appeal,” revealed one of the plaintiffs.

    A tragic story of devastation and neglect

    The decline of Ewekoro bears a striking resemblance to the degeneration of its neighbouring satellite community, Olapeleke, where the natives grapple with collapsed buildings and socio-economic ruin foisted upon them by Lafarge’s limestone mining activities in the area.

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    The residents complain of cement dust pollution, vanishing rivers, and a comatose agricultural economy. With anguish, they recalled Ewekoro’s promising years. According to the natives, before LafargeWAPCO arrived in the community in the late 1950s,the entire region of Ewekoro was a prosperous community; farming was its economic mainstay and its thriving agricultural economy produced cash crops including ofada rice, yams, cocoa, plantain, palm kernel and maize at great profit. But no sooner did Lafarge venture into the region than the once burgeoning agricultural sub-sector began to suffer irredeemable decline..

    The natives argued that the only benefit they derive from hosting Lafarge is that due to its presence in our community, electricity supply in Ewekoro has been stable and this attracted a lot of immigrants from Sango, Ifo and eviron into the community. However, the immigrants who came to enjoy the electricity have fled due to the excessive pollution of the community by Lafarge.

    Aside from destroying the natives’ homes and other valuables, cement dust from Lafarge’s chimney settles on their farms and contaminates their vegetables. The cement dust released by the company’s chimney settles on the crops. Take ewedu (jute), for instance, which is often grown by lots of subsistence farmers in the area; it must be washed vigorously to cleanse it of cement dust after being harvested for sales and consumption. But once the water dries off, it displays stains and patches of cement dust all over. This makes it extremely difficult to sell it in the market. Left without a choice, the natives are forced to eat it. No one would buy such contaminated vegetable at the market.

    Before the decline, Olapeleke was a crucial part of Ewekoro with about 200,000 people in its satellite expanse. Prior to the arrival of the West African Portland Cement (WAPCO), now Lafarge-WAPCO, the township boasted of a rich endowment of natural resources and agricultural cashcrops, including cocoa, kolanut, cocoyam, cassava, rice (its fabled highly nutritious and expensive ofada rice), tomatoes, pepper, groundnut, plantain, sugar cane, maize to mention a few. However, the township’s most valuable and expensive natural endowment is its abundant limestone deposits.

    Olapeleke sits atop limestone, the major raw material used in the production of cement.

    When the discovery of the natural resource in the Ewekoro Township became public in the early 1950s, residents of the community anticipated a remarkable fillip to their thriving agricultural economy. But they were wrong. By the time Lafarge commenced mining of the raw material, the community came to a sad realisation that rather than bring great fortune and prosperity to their doorstep, the company’s limestone exploration wrought untold loss and hardship on Olapeleke.

    In 2001, Olapeleke reported a loss of over 100 houses as that completely collapsed under the incessant barrage of limestone raining like hailstones on the community in the course of Lafarge’s quarrying activities.

    Twenty two years later, less than 30 houses are left standing in good condition of the 110 reported by Baale Gabriel Akinremi in 2014; and these few bear crude patches all over, that are meant to prevent the cracks allegedly wrought on them by Lafarge’s flying rock debris from aggravating.

    Many of the families that lack the strength and wherewithal to renovate their homes have deserted the village in droves to live in more habitable settlements outside the community.

    The impoverished ageing population, however, lamented that they do not have any where else to go and they cannot desert their ancestral homes even as the few left stand at risk of devastation by flying rock fragments from Lafarge’s limestone quarry.

    Dried up rivers, disappearing farmlands

    Prior to the cement company’s arrival, the community had five rivers which were used for irrigation, fishing and drinking purposes. The rivers were Ewekoro, Amititi, Sofuntere, Abalaye and Olorekore, according to the villagers. But Lafarge reportedly channelled the five rivers away into its quarry thus causing them to dry out. Consequently, the community’s cash crops and trees, including cocoa, kolanut and palm trees, withered and gradually died off.

    The Nation findings reveal a township struggling to deal with the tragic loss of its once flourishing agricultural economy. There are no flourishing cocoa, rice, palm kernel and cocoyam farms anymore; a dense forest and swamp of shrubs and thickets currently dominate the wide expanse of land that was once the lure that attracted itinerant contract farmhands, agricultural entrepreneurs, farmers, middlemen, transporters and traders to mention a few, to the erstwhile prosperous enclave.

    Today, those who still have the nerve to farm engage in subsistence farming. And the proceeds are always very poor. Aside from cassava and maize, very few cash crops survive on the land thus killing its hitherto thriving agro-economy.

    The elderly population recalled with nostalgia the good old days when agriculture was the mainstay of the rural community. Back then, it was common to see a young couple partner to acquire profitable stake in the agricultural economy. They jointly farmed, harvested and sold their farm produce, including cocoa, palm oil, and other cash crops at great profit. But their farmlands were destroyed at Lafarge’s incursion into the area.

    “We suffered a lot after our land was forcibly taken away…we got only N0.50 kobo as compensation. Today, we are recognised as the actual land owners yet we are suffering because there is no one to fight for us,” cried Apeke Akinremi, a widow.

    Intrigues made in Ewekoro

    In 2014, at The Nation’s first visit to Ewekoro, the Baale of Ewekoro, late Satar Lawal, refused to comment on the degree of devastation suffered by his community, claiming that he would only react after The Nation had spoken to Lafarge. Satar claimed that Lafarge had really tried for Ewekoro community, stressing that the company discharges cement dust on his community only when its equipment are down with a fault.

    The reality is, however, quite different from Satar’s claims; while he defended Lafarge, The Nation copiously took photographs of the cement company’s chimney that towers directly behind his palace as it dispelled cement dust excessively on to the community. It was also very instructive to note that the company’s equipment were not down due to any fault at the time the pictures were taken.

    Soon after The Nation’s visit to Ewekoro, late Satar and his fellow chiefs called a press conference to address crucial environmental issues affecting Ewekoro local government area (LGA). They urged the company’s management to consider their safety and do something to mitigate the impacts of its operation on them and the environment.

    The 12 communities they claimed to represent are Olapeleke, Akinbo, Oke  Oko, Egbado, Sekoni, Olujobi, Papalanto, Ewekoro, Egba -Ajegunle, Elebute, Alagunto and Itori. While the first eight communities are situated on areas referred to as ‘limestone belt,’ the four others, are homes only to the company’s  plants and chimney.

    Lafarge’s elder support, CSR and other tokens

    The natives would find it easier perhaps to assert their rights if they could escape the cycle of tokenism that has them jostling for “paltry sums” given to them annually by Lafarge. While the latter prides itself on its commendable Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives in the area, the people of Ewekoro dismissed the company’s claims, arguing that whatever form of support the company gives to their community as part of its CSR, will never be enough palliative to the damage it wreaks on their neighbourhood by its production activities.

    A good example is the so-called elder support. The traditional authorities are asked to suggest beneficiaries of the fund and when they do, Lafarge gives each beneficiary N50, 000. When the latter gets back to the community, he or she has to share the money with about 20 other people. At the end, what often gets to each beneficiary, around N2, 000 or thereabouts,  is usually too ridiculous to be acknowledged.

    Hence from a purported N50, 000 annual support to one aged person, in Ewekoro, what actually gets to the beneficiary and other recipients, is a measly N2, 000.

    In the absence of a dependable Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) regulatory framework in the country, most multinational corporations are at liberty to commit discretionary percentages of their profit to CSR initiatives. To this end, Lafarge allegedly commits N55 million annually to Ewekoro and its 11 satellite communities including  Olapeleke, Akinbo, Oke-Oko, Egbado, Sekoni, Olujobi, Papalanto, Ewekoro, Egba -Ajegunle, Elebute, Alagunto and Itori.

    Findings revealed that, of the figure, N11 million gets to Olapeleke for community development. Initially, the figure was N9 million, out of which N5.5 million is earmarked for capital projects like road construction. About N1 million is earmarked as bursary for 10 students at N200, 000 each; N250, 000 as support for five aged people; Youth Empowerment, N700, 000; while five farmers are given N500, 000 each.

    When the recipients of the money eventually get it, they take it back to their respective communities where the money is split, by consensus, among greater number of recipients. The N50, 000 Lafarge gives as support to the aged, for instance, is reportedly shared with about 11 or 15 fellow aged persons. Thus, even though Lafarge claims to have given N50, 000 as support to one aged person, the money is actually shared among the specified recipient and about 11 to 15 others. At the end, each beneficiary gets a paltry N2, 000, N3, 000 or N5, 000. The natives are forced to adopt this method in order to make the money go round those who desperately need financial support within the community.

    The same formula is adopted in sharing N500, 000 given to five farmers. Eventually, what will get to each farmer is never up to N50, 000. What gets to each farmer most times is as low as N10, 000.

    Feeding fat off a battered mule…

    No doubt, the amount Lafarge devotes to CSR in Ewekoro is too meagre and unrepresentative of the immense profit the company grosses from its mining and cement production activities in the area.

    For the year 2022, the company declared a dividend of N32 billion following the approval of the company’s shareholders at the 64th Annual General Meeting of the Company held in Lagos on Friday, April 28, 2023, at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    In the year ended 2022, Lafarge Africa Plc increased its revenue by 27% from the N293 billion recorded in 2021 to N373 billion as Operating Profit improved by 29.3% on the back of net sales improvement to close at N84.2 billion.

    Addressing Shareholders during the meeting, the Chairman of the company’s board, Prince Adebode Adefioye, stated that: “Overall, net sales increased by 27% compared to the prior year, to close at N373.2 billion. Similarly, Operating Profit improved by 29.3% on the back of net sales improvement to close at N84.2 billion. In addition, cost-saving initiatives implemented across our value chain contributed partly to operating profit improvement. The improvement in net sales and operating profit led to an increase in Profit Before Tax by 12% to N69.7 billion and Profit After Tax by 5.2% to close at N53.6bn.”

    In the first half of this year ended in June 2023, Lafarge Africa declared N55.32 billion profit before tax, an increase of 18 per cent from the N46.88 billion reported in half year ended June 30, 2022. The cement maker on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) reported N35.48billion profit after tax in H1 2023, a decline of 5.2 per cent from N37.41billion in H1 2022, attributable to 109.5per cent growth in tax expenses in the period under review to N19.84billion as against N9.47billion in H1 2022.

    Lafarge, however, reported N197.68 billion revenue in H1 2023, a nearly six per cent increase from N186.6billion in H1 2022.

    Against the backdrop of the company’s declared profits, many residents of Ewekoro are bitter because they feel that their representatives are not representing their interests as they expect them to. Pleading anonymity, a member of the traditional council alleged that their traditional chiefs hardly protect the interests of their communities because they are wary of offending the management of Lafarge.

    “They fear that if they do, they will lose the lucrative contracts they get from the company periodically,” revealed the chief.

    We prioritise health and safety of our host communities – Lafarge

    In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Lafarge’s Head, Corporate Communications, Public Affairs & Sustainable Development, Ginikanwa Frank-Durugbor, stated argued that the company is doing its best to make life easier for residents of its host communities.

    She said that Lafarge is committed to conducting its business with zero harm to people while minimizing its environmental footprint. “Our investment in a new bag filter underscores this commitment. Our stack emission measurement is done by government accredited agencies on a quarterly basis and the report is shared with both the State and Federal ministry of Environment. In addition, Air quality measurement (Total Suspended Particulate) conducted across the plant fence lines shows all measured values are below the national standard of 250 µg/m3.

    “However, measurement was also carried out simultaneously on 3rd party (Lagos/Abeokuta express road) influence and the result showed dust (Total Suspended Particulate) value of more than 250 µg/m3. Mitigation measures are to plant trees along our perimeter fence in order to prevent impact of dust from the third party. We also carry out palliative repairs regularly on bad portions of the road to reduce fugitive dust generation,” she said.

    To mitigate the impact of Lafarge’s production activities on its host communities, she said the company has put corrective measures in place, including the installation of dust abatement and emission monitoring equipment on its stacks while ensuring continuous preventive maintenance of the equipment.

    A people’s heartfelt prayer…

    Despite Lafarge’s claims, not a few residents of Ewekoro contended that they are forced to live under a perpetual cloud of pollutants and cement dust discharged by the company’s chimney.

    Among other things, they wish that the company embrace environmentally- friendly activities in line with global business practices in the extractive industry.

    They wish that Lafarge “pursues CSR initiatives that truly benefits all segments” of their community. They want Lafarge to desist from its plot to buy what’s left of their land “for a pittance.”

    The children dream of a better neighbourhood complete with decent living facilities similar to those accessible to Lafarge staff in their gated estate.

    Precisely nine years ago, the Ekeji Baale (Chief) of Ewekoro, Musiliu Balogun, argued thus: “Our community is the goose that lays the golden egg that Lafarge currently feeds fat upon; let Lafarge compensate us for exploiting our land and damaging it. We deserve to be compensated,” he said.

    Corroborating him, the Otun Iyaloja of Ewekoro, Risikat Balogun, lamented thus: “Nobody cares what happens to us. Nobody. We are dying here and the world is quiet about it. Poor people like us suffer heavy consequences and pay heavy penalties for the company’s exploitation of our land. I am pleading as a mother, a wife and citizen of Nigeria, let the government come to our aid. The world should come to our aid. We are dying over here.”

    But precisely 3,285 days after their lamentation, the two Baloguns have completely gone quiet even as the fate of the entire community hangs precariously on the balance.

    About dystopia

    To witness the aftermath of Ewekoro’s industrialisation by Lafarge is to be lost inside a wakeful nightmare. The markers on this mapless journey are the poisoned air, cratered roads, tyre-gripping mudbeds, swarms of children covered in cement dust, dust shields fabricated of disused blankets and nylon sheets, deserted mini-market and a township limping with decapitated hope.

    Most of the natives who were born into a vibrant farming community along the transit highway have watched their agro-economy fritter and fade off a precipice interred by neglect.

    The rich community of Lafarge staff, however, live very safe metres from the plateau of Ewekoro’s impoverishment; untarnished in their gated estate, fenced with lush greenery, tarred roads, paved sidewalks and manicured gardens.

    Behind Lafarge’s gates, the manicured beauty of its staff residences tapers into oblivion. Dystopia persists as the natives huddle farther from relief. In over 60 years, those with next to nothing slink into greater austerity in a necessary performance of hope and endurance.

    The crescendo of their privation and hardship, reveals in real time, how a once blooming agro-economy got stifled by industry.

    Lafarge arrived, Ewekoro collapsed, and the world has since responded the only way it could, until it stopped. “Empathy fatigue” manifests as the straw man of pundits within and outside the beleaguered community. 

    The epic catastrophe that plagues Ewekoro has been met only with feeble resistance.