Residents of Orisunmbare community, Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Oluyole Local Government of Oyo State, on Monday came out en masse to protest the alleged killing, and destruction of their houses, properties as well as other valuables by a quarry company, Sequoia Mining Company Limited.
The residents claimed that blasting activities of the company have wreaked havoc in the sleepy community. They stated that a 25-year-old man , Abiodun Alarape, who worked at a nearby company was killed by a blast penultimate Saturday.
The residents, who staged the protest in front of the company, demanded its vacation from the community. They carry placards, bearing various inscriptions such as ‘No more work’, ‘no more quarrying’, ‘no more destruction of our properties’, ‘stop the killing’, ‘we are not slaves’, ‘no more blasting’, ‘stop killing us’, and others.
Speaking, the Coordinator for the Orisunmbare Community Development Forum, Mr. Ayo Akinyemi alleged that the quarry company had been wreaking havoc and causing environmental threats to the residents.
Akinyemi said: ‘’We are protesting here because we have a serious environmental issue with a quarry located in our community. The company blasted a week ago, and there were flying stones, which eventually killed a young man. Aside from that, they have been destroying our properties and houses. We had reported to NESREA and other government bodies that have to do with environmental issues.But the height of it is killing that boy on Saturday and we are saying this company must shut down. There are houses around here.
‘’In fact, the Oyo State Government projects are here, we have the Ladoja Estate here. If the stone had hit one of the site workers, I’m sure the Government would have taken a step on this issue.
This is our predicament. We want the government to come to our aid. They are Chinese people and they are blasting seriously, because anytime they do that it would sound as if there is an earthquake, the whole ground would shake and all our houses now have cracks. We don’t want the problem that would come in the future where buildings would be killing people in their homes’’.
Another community leader,Abiodun Akanji, said despite that fact that the activities of the company killed someone on Saturday, it continued work on Sunday without a modicum of sympathy.
Akanji said:‘’In short, their blasting in our area is wreaking havoc on our properties. Personally, my house was pulled down three times through their blasting, we have pictures and evidence of all their havoc.
‘’We have been here after the young man died and to our surprise we met them working, not considering the fact that, there acts has taken someone’s life. This shows that they have no sympathy’’.
Another community member, Mrs. Olufadeke Akinyemi, said: ‘’This Chinese quarry company needs to be stopped.We are not bothered about any compensation but the safety of lives. Our houses are collapsing. We keep talking and no action is been taken to stop them form their nefarious activities. We have children and we need safety for all’’.
A union leader in the company where the deceased man was working, Mr Oluwagbemiga Ariyo Oyeleke, said the mining company had spoken with the family of Abiodun Alarape and they had reached a compromise.
Officials of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency of Nigeria [NESREA] were seen at the yard of the quarry company. Speaking on the site, the Assistant Chief Environmental Health Officer,Oyo State Field Office of NESREA, Mojisola Adeoye, who represented the State Coordinator, Mr. Toyin Obagiri , disclosed that the agency was on the site to investigate and resolve the issue.
Adeoye said: ‘’We received a complaint of blasting issue that claimed one life here last week and we are here to investigate what could have happened. We quickly stopped the company work. That is a verbal stop-work order. And they complied. We are here today to invite all parties for further investigation and resolution’’.
Reacting, the Administrative Officer of Sequoia Mining Company Limited, Akinola Sanusi, said the company sympathised with the family of the late Abiodun Alarape, adding that the right thing would be done. He, however, said the late man did not live in the community but only worked around.
Sanusi said: ‘’The person that died is not from the village. It was an accident and we are very sorry for that it happened. They reported a particular incident last year that one house was destroyed and we went there and they reported to NESREA and government officials came to inspect the structure and the matter was resolved. The place is out of gazette and the material used for the house is not good enough. That was the only house I know’’.
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