In this second part of The Nation’s special investigative series on the impact of LafargeWAPCO’s cement production on its host communities, OLATUNJI OLOLADE, Assistant Editor and KUNLE AKINRINADE, highlight the agonies of the people of Ewekoro, host to the cement company’s chimney and factory complex
EWEKORO looms like a gothic platitude slipshodly carved along the graying highway that leads to Abeokuta, Ogun State’s capital city. From a distance, the cool and indiscriminate glare of sunlight seems to desecrate it like a tomb. Closer, the people and houses in the community take shape like a stream of accidental shadows, their hard noises striking one’s face and making the senses numb with momentary clarity. It is their noiseless undertones that, however, evoke intense feelings of awe and curiosity. Sad desperate glances of the natives inspire a thirst for buried narratives that they miserably learn to endure as unreal jests made by death.
“Everything dies in Ewekoro. Life is harder every minute. Day by day, we awaken to the sad reality of watching our community suffer a hard and gruesome death. Life is not what we thought it would be like living as neighbours with LafargeWAPCO,” says Musulumi Balogun, the Igbakeji Baale (deputy village head) of Ewekoro.
“But we try to make the best of what is left of our lives. Every day, we have to endure the same ordeals that have been afflicting us for over 40 years…look around you, you will find that Ewekoro has been completely destroyed. Nothing works here anymore. Our land is dead. The only surviving river we have now is polluted, taken over by weeds and a vicious swamp. It is unsafe to venture into it either to fish or make irrigation for farmland. We don’t even have the land we could farm anymore. The little crops that survive on our land are hardly fit for consumption, they are perpetually contaminated by fumes and cement dust from LafargeWAPCO’s chimney,” laments Balogun.
The 70-year-old village chieftain and grandfather laments the death of life and agricultural economy that made Ewekoro an attractive township to many a fortune hunter and agricultural entrepreneur back in the days when the land yielded to industry and cash crops. Balogun bemoans the declining fortunes of his once thriving community, claiming that the arrival of the West African Portland Cement (WAPCO) now LafargeWAPCO, spelled great doom for Ewekoro although the natives chorused with joy and lofty expectations at its arrival pre-independence era.
“If our fathers knew this is what we would be reduced to, they would have been more careful in giving up our land. They were never paid for the land. They were only paid for the crops on it…My extended family received a paltry N210 for the crops on hectares of my family land. When the money was split amongst my father, barely N0.50k got to my father,” reveals Balogun.
“None of our children wishes to live here anymore. Many of them have fled to the suburbs and cities of Lagos and Abeokuta in droves. They leave because there is nothing for them to do over here. There is no profitable work or business opportunity for them to take advantage of,” says a buxomly old lady who sells food by the neighbourhood trailer park. Dusting her pots, pans and eating utensils free of cement dust, she bemoans the current state of Ewekoro, claiming it was a shame that the presence of LafargeWAPCO, rather than improve the lot of her community, compounds its woes with several hardships.
Odofin of Ewekoro, Olalekan Omotayo, also complains of non-existent economy and business opportunities for the youth. “Nothing survives in this town. By training, I am an electrician and electrical contractor but I hardly get any decent business to do in this town. The last time I got some menial job to do was about three months ago; sometimes, I spend a gruesome four months without making decent kobo. This terrible situation is responsible for the mass exodus of youths from the community to seek livelihood in the suburbs of Lagos and Abeokuta and sometimes, even farther.
“The cement dust destroys everything. It blows into our homes, stains our windows, and settles on our furniture and clothes destroying everything. It has destroyed several cars too. A friend of mine who came over here to establish a car dealership had to flee after three months because cement dust released by LafargeWAPCO’s chimney destroyed the windshields and frames of his vehicles. Eventually, he counted his losses, closed shop and deserted our community before he suffered more grievous losses,” recounts Omotayo.
A tragic story of devastation and neglect
The decline of Ewekoro bears a striking resemblance to the degeneration of neighbouring Olapeleke where the people engage in a desperate struggle to pick up the pieces of their lives from the melancholy of collapsed buildings and socio-economic ruin allegedly foisted upon them by LafargeWAPCO’s limestone mining in their area.
Residents of Ewekoro complain of cement dust pollution, vanishing rivers, and a comatose agricultural economy. With anguish, they recall Ewekoro’s promising years. According to the natives, before LafargeWAPCO arrived in the community in the late 1950s, Ewekoro, like Olapeleke, was a prosperous community; farming was the mainstay of the rustic community’s economy 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 LafargeWAPCO venture into the region than the once burgeoning agricultural subsector began to suffer irredeemable decline, they allege.
“The only benefit we derive from being neighbours with LafargeWAPCO is that due to its presence in our community, electricity supply here (in Ewekoro) is more stable but people who came from Sango and environ to enjoy the electricity have fled due to the excessive cement dust pollution of our community by LafargeWAPCO,” says Risikat Balogun, Otun Iyaloja of Ewekoro.
Risikat laments that besides destroying their homes and other valuables, cement dust from LafargeWAPCO’s chimney settles on their farms and contaminates their vegetables. “The cement dust released by the company’s chimney settles on our crops. Take ewedu (vegetable), for instance, oftentimes, we have to wash it vigorously to cleanse it of cement dust but once the water dries off, it shows up with patches of cement dust stains all over. This makes it extremely difficult for us to sell our vegetables in the market place. Left without a choice, we are forced to eat it like that as no one would buy such contaminated vegetable at the market,” she reveals.
When distrust and disillusionment sets in…
The Nation initially encountered hostility from the natives during preliminary visits to Ewekoro. And the reason is hardly farfetched: “We have received several visitors from the media in the past. They all claimed to be interested in drawing attention to our plight but they have always come to deceive us. After interviewing us, they promise to publish and broadcast our story to the world but they have never kept their promise. Just recently, journalists came from a prominent TV station (name withheld) to do a story about our predicament here but after touring our community to record its widespread devastation, a senior staff of LafargeWAPCO invited them into the company in our presence. And that was the last we heard from the TV crew. Our story hardly gets published, and the few times it gets published, what is reported is usually very different from the truth,” claims Balogun.
As the deputy village chief bares his mind, a buxomly aged woman scurries to the door and starts making frantic gestures at him to keep his mouth shut but the 70-year-old father and grandfather tells her off, claiming no one could hurt him for speaking his mind. “At my age and with what I have gone through in this life, I don’t think the fear of any reprisal can keep me from saying the truth as it is…it’s better I say the truth now. It’s better we scream for help now; if we don’t, our children will grow to inherit the bleakness and hopelessness that we inherited from our fathers,” he says.
LafargeWAPCO’s ‘elder support’ and other token
The Nation findings reveal that the people of Ewekoro, like their neighbours in Olapeleke, are stuck in a cycle of tokenism that has them jostling for “paltry sums” given to them annually by LafargeWAPCO. While the latter prides itself over its commendable Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative in the area, the people of Ewekoro dismiss the company’s claims, arguing that whatever form of support the company gives to their community as a form of CSR, it will never be enough palliative to the damage it wreaks on their neighbourhood by its production activities.
“What they have been giving us has never been enough. A good example is the so-called elder support they give to us. They ask us to suggest beneficiaries of the fund and when we do, they give each beneficiary N50, 000 but when the beneficiary gets back to the community, he or she shares the money with 20 other people. At the end, what often gets to each beneficiary, usually N2, 000 or thereabouts, is usually too ridiculous to be acknowledged,” says Balogun.
Hence going by his disclosure, while LafargeWAPCO claims to give N50, 000 to support an aged person annually in Ewekoro, what actually gets to the beneficiary and other recipients, is a measly N2, 000.
The village chief contends that the amount LafargeWAPCO 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 local government area. Recently, LafargeWAPCO published audited reports and profit accounts of its business enterprise in the country. Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of the company for the year ended December 31, 2013 show that the company’s profit earnings after tax grew by 92 per cent to N28.2 billion in 2013 as against N14.7 billion recorded in 2012. Profit before tax grew by 30 per cent from N21.3 billion to N27.7 billion and turnover increased by 12 per cent to N98.8 billion as against N87.9 billion in 2012.
Many of the residents 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 alleges that some of their leaders will never do anything to actually protect the interests of their community. According to the chieftain, such leaders are wary of offending the management of LafargeWAPCO by crying out to the government and other stakeholders for help. “They fear that if they do, they will lose the lucrative contracts they get from the company periodically,” reveals the village chief.
Intrigues made in Ewekoro
At The Nation’s first visit to Ewekoro, Baale of Ewekoro, Satar Lawal, refused to comment on the degree of devastation suffered by his community, claiming that he would only react after The Nation has spoken to LafargeWAPCO. Satar claims that LafargeWAPCO has really tried for Ewekoro community, stressing that the company discharges cement dust on his community only when its equipment are down with fault.
The reality is, however, very different from Satar’s claims; while he defended LafargeWAPCO, 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, Satar and three others, including the Chairman, Lafarge Host Communities’ Employment Committee, Chief Olaleye Olalekan, Baale of Akinbo, Chief Rasheed Balogun, Baale of Egba Ajegunle, Chief Joshua Oniyitan and the youth leader for the 12 communities, Segun Oniyitan 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 though have limestone, but quarrying of it can’t take place there as they are homes only to the LafargeWAPCO plants and chimney.
Satar and company want the dust and smoke emissions from the company reduced drastically to zero level. They also want the company to relocate the people of Oke Oko Sekoni and Oke Egbado communities to safe locations away from the cement company’s quarry sites since the villagers are prone to the effects of blasting at the quarry. The traditional rulers urge the cement plant management to also install efficient dust collection technology at the plants to protect residents against air pollution.
Although they commended the company’s donation of a borehole, transformers, a health centre, classrooms and the introduction of Lafarge Apprenticeship Training School for their youths, several residents of Ewekoro allege that the benefits they supposedly enjoy from the cement company’s touted CSR efforts are barely noticeable in the throes of widespread devastation they suffer by the company’s persistent discharge of cement dust into their farms, homes and airspace.
Our communities trust and support us, says LafargeWAPCO’s spokesman
In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Ade Ojolowo, Corporate Communications Manager (CCM) of LafargeWAPCO, however, argued that the company is doing its best to make life easier for residents of its host communities. “We are not only doing certain things, but also doing those things which are of utmost priority to our host communities. Whenever there is a challenge, we solve it together,” he claims.
“You will recollect that the leaders of the same two communities (Ewekoro and Akinbo) granted an interview to The Nation where they said pollution occurrences have reduced by at least 75 per cent. That figure is a conservative figure on their part; we have achieved quite more than that. The truth is we are not resting on our oars, but you know, if anybody wishes to say anything about cement companies in a manner that will generate interest and pity, dust must be mentioned,” argues Ojolowo.
The LafargeWAPCO image-maker highlights measures being taken by his company to guarantee a hazard-free living environment for its host communities: “Ewekoro I and 2 Plants utilise one of the most modern electrostatic precipitator systems for dust control of the kiln. This system ensures that the emissions from the stack are below both the Nigeria standard as well as international standard; both cement plants have over 200 dust control equipment (DCEs) installed across the process lines for emission controls and each of our plants have regular scheduled maintenance to keep our equipment in good working conditions resulting in good energy management and lower emission levels,” he claims.
Ojolowo argues that the factory sweeps and wets the roads to control fugitive dust, adding: “Our cement mills are enclosed in buildings to keep noise and dust levels low and we conduct a monthly Community Relations Committee meeting with our communities and keep them abreast of developments, hence our communities trust and support us.”
A people’s heartfelt prayer…
Not a few residents of Ewekoro nonetheless, disagree with Ojolowo, Satar and company’s claims. According to Imam Bashir Adeola of Ewekoro Central Mosque, there is no gainsaying that they are forced to live under a perpetual cloud of pollutants and cement dust discharged by LafargeWAPCO’s chimney.
“We wish to be relocated. We want LafargeWAPCO to relocate us to a better neighbourhood complete with decent living facilities and standard. We wish to be relocated to a housing estate similar to the one in which LafargeWAPCO shelters its staff. They cordon us off here (in Ewekoro) behind a fence in a completely destroyed community while they keep their staff in a safer and far better environment. Our community is the goose that lays the golden egg LafargeWAPCO currently feeds fat upon; let the cement company compensate us for exploiting our land and damaging it. We deserve to be compensated,” says Balogun.
“Nobody cares what happens to us…nobody. We are dying here and the world is quiet about it. Everybody sees LafargeWAPCO and reads of its business successes in the newspaper but how many people actually know that 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,” cries Risikat.
Worrisome research findings
In a recent study carried out to determine the toxicity and mutagenesis of cement dust on plants and animals in Ewekoro by a research team from the Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, University of Lagos (UNILAG), it was discovered that cement dust emission from LafargeWAPCO’s chimney is toxic to plants and animals in its host community. The research team, led by Yahaya Tajudeen (Ph.D) Cell Biology and Genetics and including J. Okpuzor and O. Oladele Esther, monitored the cytotoxicity and mutagenesis of cement dust using Allium cepa (Onion bulbs) test model.
Healthy purple variety of onions (25-32g) was purchased from Sango-Ota market, Ogun State. Eighty of the bulbs were grown in the dark for 48 hours in beakers containing 100 ml of tap water at ambient temperature until the roots have grown to about 2-3 cm. The 40 viable bulbs were selected and used for the research. The 40 viable Allium bulbs selected were divided into four groups of 10 Allium bulbs per group. The control group (group 1) was kept in a cement dust-free environment in the same climatic zone, about 6 km from the company. The test groups (groups 2-4) were exposed to cement dust at about 100 m from the cement factory for two weeks, four weeks and six weeks, respectively. At the end of the exposures, the onions across the groups were taken to the Environmental Biology Laboratory, University of Lagos. Elemental analysis of the onion bulbs was done by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy using UNICAM model 969 Spectrophotometer and cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of the elements in the onions were determined using Allium test.
Results: The concentrations of the elements detected in the test groups were significantly higher than the concentrations of the elements detected in the control group. Furthermore, significant differences exist among the concentrations of the elements detected in various test groups and the amount increased with the length of exposure. For example, the final mean concentration of aluminum in the control group is 0.033 mg kg-1, while the final mean concentrations of aluminum in groups 2, 3 and 4 are 0.063, 0.103 and 0.293 mg kg-1, respectively. Moreover, the final mean concentration of chromium in the control group is 0.003 mg kg-1, while the final mean concentrations of chromium in groups 2, 3 and 4 are 0.008, 0.012 and 0.021 mg kg-1, respectively. Finally, the final mean concentration of lead in the control group is 0.0004 mg kg-1, while the final mean concentrations of lead in groups 2, 3 and 4 are 0.008, 0.013 and 0.020 mg kg-1, respectively.
The results of the elemental analysis of the exposed onion bulbs, according to the team, supports earlier findings that establish that apart from the basic constituents of cement dust, the burning process in cement manufacture produce poisonous substances such as particulate matters, dioxin, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and volatile compounds.
“This research reveals high concentrations of calcium, silicon, aluminum, chromium and lead. The results further confirm that cement factories are one of the great polluters of the environment with the release of poisonous dust and gases. Considering the short period of exposure and the high levels of the elements detected in the exposed onions, it shows that the cement company is badly polluting the environment…Our results reveal high frequency of chromosome stickiness, c-mitosis, chromosomal bridges and fragmentation, multi-polar anaphase, bi-nucleus chromosome and vagrant chromosome.
“The results of this research clearly show that the environment surrounding the cement factory is highly polluted with poisonous gases and elements. The effects of these pollutants had shown in chromosomal aberrations in the exposed Allium cepa (Onion bulbs). Definitely, all other organisms including man in the cement polluted environment will be experiencing similar problems. Apart from the fact that we need to protect ourselves, the integrity and population of plants and animals around cement factories must also be protected.
“This is because man depends on plant and animal for survival and the chromosomal aberrations may be transferred to them. Therefore, environmental pollution from cement factories must be checked by using efficient dust collectors and dust-filters. Cement companies must put in place new machines and technologies and must ensure prompt packaging and transportation of both finished product and left-over cement kiln dust. The use of hazardous waste substances as fuels should be discouraged and there must be a policy on minimum distance from cement companies in which settlements and farming activities will be allowed. Finally, the use of medicinal plants as detoxifiers should be introduced to people living around industrial areas. These will go a long way in preserving the populations of plants and animals as well as health of humans in polluted environments,”advises Dr. Yahaya and company.
Another scientific study carried out to determine air quality in the vicinity of LafargeWAPCO’s Ewekoro cement production zone reveals that the company’s production activities release air pollutants into its host community and surrounding environment. The research which was carried out by a team from the Department of Environmental Management and Toxicology, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State, over six months was recently published in the European Centre for Research Training and Development, United Kingdom (UK)’s International Research Journal of Natural Sciences (Vol.1, No.2, pp.34-42, June 2013). The investigation sought the concentration levels of potentially harmful toxic metals in groundwater, tree barks and top soil in the vicinities of LafargeWAPCO’s production plant while determining effect of cement production and its contribution of air pollutants such as Total Suspended Particle (TSP), Thoracic Particulates viz inhalable sizes and gaseous pollutants: Carbon monoxide (CO), Sulphur dioxide (SO2), Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) and Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) to the environment. A total of six sampling points which include the Production plant (starting point), Administrative office (400m), Cement mill (800m) and neighboring communities (Ewekoro, 500m, Ajobiewe, 1, 000m, and Agbesi Estate, 1, 500m) were used.
The cement company’s production plant reportedly had higher concentration of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter size of 10 compared to other locations and “Ewekoro community had the highest concentration of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter size of 2.5 i.e. PM2.5 followed by Agbesi Estate and Administrative office area,” according to the research findings.
The research team stated in its report: “Greenhouse gases such as Sulphur dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen dioxide (NOx), Carbon monoxide (CO) and Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) were observed in vicinity of the cement Company. The most important environment, health and safety performance issues facing cement industry are atmospheric releases including greenhouse gases emission.”
The team concludes that “there is need to reduce the rate of emission during cement production to the minimal level by using air trapping devices.” In a separate study carried out by a team from the Department of Chemistry, Lagos State University (LASU) to determine trace metals characterisation in environmental media in Ewekoro cement production belt, it was also discovered that poisonous metals are present in soil, groundwater and tree barks at contamination level in the area. In the study, a total number of 15 groundwater samples, 10 top soil samples (0 15 cm) and 10 plant bark samples were collected.
At the end of the study, the team surmises: “All the metals investigated were found present in the three environmental media under consideration at contamination level. The study reveals more of pollutants that are air bound than that of soil and water. Trace metal such as cadmium and iron were observed higher than the allowable limit in groundwater.
“This portends a serious health threat to the inhabitants of this community whose groundwater is the main source of water for drinking and domestic needs. The continuous accumulation of these metals, if not checked, could result in pollution status with possible lethal effect to both terrestrial and aquatic organisms within the environment and beyond. Hence, the need for strict compliance on environmental rules and regulation by the cement production factory, to ensure safety of man and the environment.
The cement industry in Ogun State is one of the worst polluters of the air in the state, according to a Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) draft final report entitled, “Towards an Environmental Action Plan for Ogun State.” The report, a World Bank Assisted Project, authored by Dr. Kunle Adamson, over one decade ago, states categorically that the “Ewekoro Cement Factory in Ogun State has already been cited as emitting very high particulate levels by the Nigerian Environmental Study Team, Nigeria’s Threatened Environment: A National Profile.”
The production of one ton of cement, according to expert opinion, involves the pulverisation of about 2.6 – 2.8 tons of raw materials, clinker, gypsum, oil or coal to mention a few and between 5 to 10 per cent of these finely pulverised materials are agitated and suspended as dust.
The situation no doubt calls for urgent intervention from the government in order to protect the lives of humans, plants and animals living in LafargeWAPCO’s host communities.
The sad, sorry nature of the devastation in Ewekoro resonates in 11-year-old Semiu’s juvenile wish that the government stops LafargeWAPCO from “polluting our community with dust.”
Until the government responds, embattled children like Semiu and grandparents like Balogun will continue to live in squalor and feed on a poisonous diet of water and crops contaminated by LafargeWAPCO’s cement dust.
