The Nation Newspaper

Tag: sealed off

  • NAFDAC seals bakeries, sachet water factories in Kaduna

    National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control, (NAFDAC) on Tuesday raided and sealed several factories including bakeries and sachet water factories that did not meet up the requirements for production of goods in Kaduna.

    Among the manufacturing outlets sealed are; A1 Bakery in Kakuri which also has a water company producing Alvine and faking other companies products, Ubas sachet Water Company in Rigassa, Simfort water in Kakuri among others.

    While some of the companies fall short of the basic registration requirements, others operate below minimum hygienic standard.

    Addressing journalists during the raid, accompanied by police and other staff of the Agency, Dadi Mullah, Head of Kaduna NAFDAC office explained that many of the companies were closed down because it did not meet the minimum requirements for a place where people should be offered water to drink or bread to eat.

    He therefore said, the places would be Condone off and sealed because it is unhygienic.

    He contended that people should now know that these products are not good for consumption.

    Some of the products includes the A1 bread and Alvine sachet water and Nena water which is been produced next to a public toilet, Simfort and Ubas water adding that “It there were seriously non compliant.”

    Mullah said a decent company should be compliant with adequate materials, not zinc and the production process is suppose to be certified, the personnel should be certified medically and these basic materials are not on ground in many of the places visited.

    Many of the sachet water were in an unregistered environment, producing, two or more different types of water as it tickles their fancy.

    In one of the sachet company in Kaduna, Achine Simon, the Manager said, he did run away from the factory, but that he was not producing because of lack of water from water board, saying that is why he was not in the office.

    He however said he was preparing to start cleaning the environment before NAFDAC officials stormed the place.

     

  • Kogi Assembly sealed off

    Kogi Assembly sealed off

    The police Wednesday morning sealed off the Kogi State House of Assembly (KSHA).

    The development which took the workers of the state assembly by surprise apparently because of initial inaction of the police to effect the Senate order for Inspector General to shut the assemble over the lingering crisis that has grounded legislative work in the state.

    An assembly worker who spoke under the condition of anonymity confirmed the development to our correspondent, saying, “They (the police) came sometime after 10 o’clock this morning (Wednesday)”.

    Another source however debunked the shutting of the assembly by the police, saying that the issue was “resolved”.

    The source who pleaded anonymity said workers were in their offices as at the time the Police came.

    “Yes, they have resolved it. The police came but they spoke over the matter and the issue was resolved,” the source said.

    The source, a lady, however added that lawmakers were yet to be allowed into the assembly complex”.

    The House of Representatives which instituted a fact finding committee to look into the Kogi assembly crisis has since taken over its activities, followed by the Senate, which endorsed the close order.

    The police has since the order looked the other way while the Umar Imam-led faction (G-5) of the assembly continued sitting, until around 10am Wednesday morning, when people were ordered out of the complex, while the Momoh Jimoh-Lawal faction otherwise known as G-15, which took its case before the National Assembly, have since stated away from the assembly.

  • DPR sealed 100 petrol stations in 5 weeks – official

    DPR sealed 100 petrol stations in 5 weeks – official

    The Warri Zonal Office of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) said it sealed about 100 erring petrol stations in the last five weeks in Delta for various offences.

    Mr Goddey Agusa, the Head of its Public Affairs Unit, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Warri.

    Agusa said the petrol stations were sealed for offences bordering on hoarding, diversion, over-pricing as well as under-dispensing.

    He said the sealed petrol stations were in Warri and environs, adding that most of them were involved in under-dispensing of products to the public.

    “The common practice among the oil marketers today is the issue of under-dispensing and DPR is equal to the task.

    “Most of the marketers pretend to comply with the Federal Government directive on pump price of N86.50 per litre, but they under-dispense.

    “About 80 out of the 100 petrol stations sealed in the last one month in the state were involved in under-dispensing to the public.

    “We go out on surveillance with our measuring gauge and once we discover that you under-dispense, we don’t have options than to dispense your fuel to the public free of charge.

    “However, if the practice continues, we may decide to revoke their operational licence,’’ he said.

    Agusa said the sealed petrol stations would pay a fine of N100, 000 each for their offences before they would be reopened.

    He, however, said that the petroleum marketers were complying with the Federal Government’s directive on the pump price.

    Agusa said the regulatory agency would continue to monitor activities of petroleum marketers until they fully complied with the distribution and sales of petroleum products.

    He warned marketers who short-changed the public to desist from doing so, noting that defaulters would be made to face the full wrath of the law.

     

  • Bank, other buildings sealed off over safety

    The Lagos State Government on Tuesday stopped work on some construction sites non-compliance with safety laws and regulations.

    A new generation bank’s building under construction in Oregun was affected in the exercise.

    Others were a building located beside PKF House on Ikorodu road; a building along Opebi link bridge, part of which has collapsed, and another one inside the Ikeja GRA.

    Officials of the Lagos Safety Commission (LSSC) also visited some projects, including the pedestrian bridge at the Lagos State secretariat to link the Ketu-Shangisha axis, the construction of the multi-storey office space and car park at the former secretariat car park, and the ongoing construction within the House of Assembly.

    Speaking after sealing off one of the buildings, Mr Dapo Taiwo, an engineer, said the commission would leave no stone unturned to ensure that contractors adopt measures to promote safety.

    Describing deaths on construction sites as “colossal,” Taiwo said the fatalities reporting system is bad, adding: “Rather than the contractors report such incidents to the commission, they would report to the police who have no training to handle such occurrences.”

    He said because accidents did not announce themselves before they occur, there is the need for building owners and contractors handling ongoing projects especially high rise buildings to have a safety plan, which would among other features, anticipate hazards that might occur on site and how they intend to handle them.

    He said the lapses observed across all the sites visited must be corrected and concrete safety plans inititated by the affected contractors before the seal-off order would be removed.

    According to him, the idea behind the closures is to instil the culture of best international practices in the local construction industry. The commission, he said, is out to promote safety especially at construction sites.

    Among the infractions observed were failure to set up adequate barricades and caution signs across excavation sites to prevent falling, failure to provide hard hat and hard boots for all workmen, lack of proper storage and waste disposal mechanism among others.