Impending environmental disaster in Ile-Ife

When abnormal conditions continue to gain currency with those charged with regulation and prevention of such abnormality looking the other way, then the society is headed for the ruins.
This seems to be the case in Ile-Ife, where a threatening environmental disaster is in the offing.
A metal smelting factory, situated along the outskirt of Ile-Ife, which identity is unknown but seems to be owned by Indians is at the centre of this calamity.

While the company collects metal wastes from the community – a recycling process – it seems to be replacing the metal wastes it is collecting with huge air pollutants that will have serious health challenge on the residents of not only the immediate community but also Ife township.
This is not to mention the consequent effect on weather and human atmosphere.
The factory for several months now has been emitting large amount of odious smoke, which is possibly from the coal or hydrocarbon burning.
Aside blurring visibility on the road linking Ife with Ibadan, the effects of the smoke on biological lives including plants, humans and animals cannot be underemphasised.
The smoke will also have effects on the weather with rain being irregular and becoming more poisonous. Of course, this may be more general, that is, across the country or the world, cannot be downplayed.
If this company can be openly and brazenly discharging gaseous waste, we can only imagine the huge amount of liquid and solid wastes that would have been discharged to the environments, at great cost to lives of several generations.
Yet, the company will be whitewashing the precarious situation by claiming to be recycling and reusing metal wastes, and generating employment. And of course the government will readily welcome this as good investment.
It is more nauseating when it is known that technologies to curb and recycle this kind of waste is available and handy, but are not used by the factory owners, ostensibly to reduce cost and increase profits .
Worse still, regulatory agencies like the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and local Ministry of Environment cannot claim ignorance of the existence of this situation.
Possibly, they are still under the spell of “foreign investors”, while locals are subjected to increasing health crises.
Is it then strange why cancer and  related diseases are on the rise, which have summarily condemned many poor and working class people, who cannot afford the huge cost of medical services, to death.
The Osun State Ministry of Environment should be more proactive about the emerging environmental disasters in the state. May be if government commits some of the time and resources it is using to plant flowers across the state to pollution control and prevention of environmentally dangerous development, we can save more lives now and in the future.
The Federal Government agencies need to be put under the control of local agencies. It is only in our clime that we see an agency that is meant to monitor local issues not having presence in communities through organised structures and representations, yet several millions are awarded to board members of such agencies as salaries, allowances and official perks.

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