“..Milatex is a problem we are praying to be liberated from. We have made efforts to get the company to respect our right to a healthy environment but the way they operate with impunity shows that they have the support of some influential people in government who do not care about the impacts of this dangerous activity. You will be so surprised about the impacts of the vibration of the earth on houses. Even my own house currently under construction has started showing cracks. In spite of several letters written, they have refused to listen to us…” High Chief Salako Williams, secretary, Ogbere Community

On Tuesday 6 September 2011, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) and Earthcare Foundation co-organised a media briefing on the impacts of rock blasting in Iwaye/Oke Lapini and Ogbere Communities in Ogun State.
The media briefing, held at JDPC Ijebu Ode headquarters, had community people and 14 print and electronic media organisations present, and was followed by a field trip to Iwaye/Oke Lapini and Ogbere Communities in Ijebu North East Local Government Area  where rock blasting was having adverse consequences on locals.
The field trip proper was to document impacts of rock blasting by Para Crushing Nigeria Limited in Iwaye and Milatex Geneworks Limited in Ogbere. Locals accused the two companies of endangering their lives and the environment through indiscriminate blasts. At the press briefing, ERA/FoEN Head of Media, Philip Jakpor explained that testimonies from the locals during a visit by ERA in conjunction with Earthcare Foundation and JDPC on August 23, 2011 indicated that during the blasting activities which is carried out indiscriminately, rocks from the blast sites usually dropped on the roofs or windows of houses of locals, and have caused huge cracks to appear in the walls of buildings. Jakpor also noted that information gathered from the locals indicated that the identified companies did not carry out Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before commencing their operations. ERA demanded thus:

1    The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) compel Paracrushing Limited, Milatex Gene Works Limited and the other companies operating in Ogbere and Iwaye to comply with Nigeria’s environmental laws which prohibits companies from degrading the environment.
2    The aforementioned quarries be compelled to produce the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) conducted on the existing project sites and mitigation measures contained therein.
3    The Ogun State government and the quarries in Ogbere and Iwaye make public the agreements entered into with the companies and the communities
4    The aforementioned quarries stop endangering the lives of locals and their livelihoods through its rock blasting activities, remediate all impacted environment in Iwaye, Oke Lapini, Ogbere and adjoining communities and compensate the impacted people
5    The aforementioned companies immediately provide alternative source of water for the people
In his keynote address, Director of Earthcare Foundation, Mr. Olusegun Tinka urged the Federal Government, through NESREA to investigate the Ogbere and Iwaye incidents and tell Nigerians how the companies got licenses to disintegrate these communities.
Tinka noted that some impacts in the communities include forced restriction of movement when the blasting is on-going, cracks that have led to houses crumbling, dangerous health impacts of inhaling dust from the blasts and water polluted by the rocks and chemicals.
He said there was therefore a need for an investigation, including the circumstance that led to the beating up of Mrs. Veronica Onasanya and the death of her husband from injuries sustained during one of the blasting operations by Milatex Gene Works Limited.
Earlier, Director of JDPC Ijebu Ode, Reverend Father John Patrick Ngoyi noted that the concerned companies showed complete disregard for the dignity of the locals through the pollution of their water, ruination of their houses and actions that led to the loss of livelihoods.
Father Ngoyi called on the Federal and Ogun State governments to halt the unsound practices in the two communities and compel the violators to comply with laid down rules and international standards of blasting operations.

Visit to Iwaye
At Iwaye ERA monitors in company of the journalists visited several impacted households and the St. Peter’s Anglican School Oke Olowu which was already showing signs of cracks.
While pointing to a point on the roof of the school from where a huge rock from the blast site fell into a classroom, community spokesman, Johnson Idowu explained that pupils would have lost their lives if not for the timing of the incident. He also disclosed that the company failed to effect repairs even after several complaints from the school authorities.
The fact-finding team also visited the premises of Para Crushing Limited where the Business Development Manager, Mr. A. K Jain feigned ignorance about the plight of locals. He denied any impacts of rock blasting in Iwaye and explained that the company had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide some basic social amenities like water and medicare facilities for the people.
When ERA monitor pressed for a copy of the MoU, he brought out an undated document signed in 2009 which contradicted the company stance on impacts in the community. In the document it was clearly stated that rock blasting had adverse consequences on the communities but did not state any remediation other than the fact that some community folks will be given 60 tons of granite monthly.
Similarly, he failed to produce a copy of the EIA allegedly carried out on the project site but rather, said every question relating to that should be directed to the managing director, Adeshwar Kumar, who was away on business interests.
On the way from the company, a contract staff, Jerome Kenneth disclosed to the team that the company was also inflicting hardship on Nigerian workers, whom he said, were barred from establishing any union to fight for their rights.
According to him, “I for one have been working here for four years yet the company does not deem it fit to formalize my appointment. We have about 50 Nigerians suffering the same fate even with the strenuous work and meager pay. Please help us take the message to the outside world because we are suffering. We are only here because our government has failed to provide jobs for us”

Visit to Ogbere
The trip to Milatex Geneworks Limited was preceded by a visit to the farm of Mrs. Veronica Thomas Onasanya whose husband was allegedly injured at a spot she took the visiting team to.
Mrs. Onasanya showed the team several sizes of rocks on the path to the farm which she said emanated from the blasts.  According to her, not even her visits to the traditional ruler of the community, Baale Atakobo produced any tangible result as the Oba told her not to challenge the company but instead collect any amount they would offer for the treatment of her husband and her arm that was hit with the butt of a gun at the company premises.
“The Oba took me to the hospital but sternly warned me not to ask for any compensation or take any pictures of my injured neck following my tear-gassing by the police that the company invited in when I went to complain,” she narrated.  
When the team got to Milatex Geneworks Limited premises, the staff were hostile and used foul language to describe a member of the team, Mr. Felix Elijah, from Daily Independent Newspaper when he pressed on to see the company’s managing director. Some of the local security personnel employed by the company also started sprouting from the surrounding forest cover with guns and made some threatening gestures until ERA monitor and other members of the team confronted them for their actions.
It was gathered that they were given the guns to protect the company from those described as “outsiders”. They however did not reveal whom such outsiders were.
A staff simply identified as Mr. Williams who was ready to take questions on behalf of the managing director who was very hostile to taking questions from the journalists also denied any impacts of the company’s operations in the community but however revealed that the community has problems which they should resolve rather than take it out on the company.
Williams gave a different account of Mrs. Onasanya’s story, insisting her husband was given N25,000 (twenty-five thousand naira) because of his persistent visits to the company authorities to harass them for money. He described Mrs. Onasanya as a gold digger who came to pester the company for money and resisted any attempt to leave the company’s gates, necessitating a police action. He however insisted it was not the company that invited the policeman who brutalized her. The name of the police officer who, allegedly tear-gassed and brutalize her was given as Stephen Olu of the Ogbere Divisional Police Headquarters.

Testimonies from Community Folks
Mrs. Veronica Thomas Onasanya, mother of 12, Ogbere Community
“..When Milatex came to our land they did not honor the pledge to the community that they will sound the alarm at the quarry for everybody outside to stay off their farms. Most times we will be in the farms when the blasts occur and the rocks start raining down dangerously. This continued for a time so at a point I took one of the huge stones that rained down to the palace of the Oba and yet nothing changed. Even my late husband wrote severally to the company and sought the intervention of the Oba but nothing came out of that effort. When my husband sustained injury from one of the rocks that rained down while he was farming, he went to complain to the white man heading the company but was only given N25,000 (twenty-five thousand naira) which did not cover his entire bills. The day another rock landed while I was working I said enough is enough so I went to the company to complain. But instead of attending to me, one of their security personnel cocked his gun and pointed at me but I stood my ground that I will rather die than not fight for my right. At a point they called the police…one Steven Olu was the on who hit my arm with the butt of his gun and used tear gas on me. Now I cannot use the hand to farm and my husband is no more. How now can I raise money to fend for the 12 children he left behind for me?..”  

Hon. Johnson Idowu, representative of Iwaye Community
“…Paracrushing Limited came to Iwaye three years ago and ever since we have not known peace. The most disturbing part of the whole thing is that they never sound the alarm before blasting. Suddenly we hear the blast and everybody takes cover. At a point we went to their management to ask them to show us the permit they got from government to carry out blasting but they were not able to show us one. Now our environment is polluted and the water is so bad that even chickens and goats refuse to take it. Also the dust whenever blasting occurs lingers so much in the atmosphere that our people now fall ill more regularly. When you go to the company now, even the Nigerian staffers are complaining because they are employed as casual staff. We really need help in the community….”

High Chief Salako Williams, secretary, Ogbere Community
“..Milatex is a problem we are praying to be liberated from. We have made efforts to get the company to respect our right to a healthy environment but the way they operate with impunity shows that they have the support of some influential people in government who do not care about the impacts of this dangerous activity. You will be so surprised about the impacts of the vibration of the earth on houses. Even my own house currently under construction has started showing cracks. In spite of several letters written, they have refused to listen to us…”

Conclusion
ERA monitors and the visiting team observed that poverty in the affected communities was also being exploited by the companies to engage in divide-and-rule, pitching the elite in the communities with the ordinary folks.
Except prompt actions are taken by the Federal and Ogun State governments to compel Paracrushing and Milatex Geneworks Limited to act responsibly and address the concerns of the locals, there may be strife in the two communities.
There is also need to build the capacity of the locals to mobilize and take the challenge of liberating their communities from the actions of the aforementioned companies.

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