One year after Dataphyte’s investigation and the government’s promise of an intervention, Reynold Construction Company (RCC)’s rock-blasting activities still threaten the lives and livelihood of Orile Ogunmakin residents of Ogun State.
It was a sunny day in Orile Ogunmakin when this reporter visited. Located on the border of Ogun and Oyo States, the agrarian community lives on farming and merchandise of Cassava flour, Plantain, and other farm produce.
In 2021, Dataphyte detailed how the RCC’s activities led to pain for community residents.
The blasting of rocks for constructing the Lagos-Ibadan expressway renders Orile Ogunmakin residents as fugitives in their own community.
The report in 2021 noted that “Asleep or awake, sick or dying, in rain or blazing heat; citizens of Orile Ogunmakin must scramble out of their homes and head towards the community hall built by RCC once the siren indicating the commencement of blasting activities is heard.
For those three days, the construction company would send an official escort to the community and police officers with a siren-blaring van, calling on the people of Orile Ogunmakin to leave their houses for a newly built community hall.
The hall is meant to be a refuge from flying rocks that usually emerge from the nearby blasting site.”
The investigation also detailed stories of persons who suffered the environmental and economic, physical and mental impact of RCC’s blasting activities in that village.
The National Environmental Standards, Regulation and Enforcement Agency (NESREA) had acknowledged Dataphyte’s findings, recommending the immediate halt of the blasting technique used by RCC. The federal agency is saddled with the responsibility of protection and development of the environment, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development of Nigeria’s natural resources.
Dataphyte revisited the community over a year after its initial investigation into RCC’s hazardous blasting activities. The reporter found out that despite the government’s awareness of these unfortunate episodes, neither the federal or the Ogun State government has intervened to rescue or bring respite to the plight of vulnerable locals in Orile Ogunmakin.
It was gathered that the RCC tried to raise the height of the boundary of the land between the mining site and Orile Ogunmakin, but that has not stopped the flying of stones.
A resident and one of the elders of Orile Ogunmakin, Sorinola Kolawole, told Dataphyte that RCC gave houses some cement in 2022 to plaster the cracks in their houses.
“They gave some cement to each house to plaster the cracks in the houses. We were told that we should get who will do the plastering.”
However, plastering has not stopped further cracks as RCC continues to blast rocks.
Comfort Ajegunle told Dataphyte how officials came with an old roofing sheet after the rock damaged the roofing of her house.
“I suffer a lot, there are times that the rocks remove my house roofing, and you can see the roofing sheet they come with, the blasting has continued to happen” she noted.
Schools are not left out of the crisis. Dataphyte gathered that students are usually asked to leave classes for the hall across the road whenever blasting occurs.
A student told Dataphyte that the blasting of rocks usually devastates them.
Residents also recount how officials of the RCC and security officials usually tell them (residents), that if they refuse to come outside of their homes on-time and the blasting meets them, anyone who loses his/her life due to flying rocks will get only N100,000
“Officials of the RCC usually tell us that if we fail to leave the house on time and anyone dies as a result of blasted rock, the cost of life is N100,000,” Sorinola Kolawole told Dataphyte.
They also lamented that they can no longer farm due to the RCC’s activities.
“Anytime we hear the siren of RCC to signal that blasting has started, we would abandon our farm produce. Sometimes, if rain falls before we return, it would have spoiled the farm produce. We are not even encouraged to go to the farm; because imagine you are on the farm and you need to run out because of blasting; what happens?”
The residents also lament that the lives of their elderly who do not have the strength to always move to the hall where everyone runs to is usually at risk.
“We have elderly people here who are very old; we find it difficult moving them to the hall anytime the blasting takes place; imagine the stress they have to go through all the time,” Kolawole told Dataphyte.
Residents of Orile Ogunmakin informed Dataphyte that they now have only one source of water, which is the borehole dug for them by RCC.
They told Dataphyte that their source of water, which they used to rely on is no longer usable due to the quarry activities of the RCC.
“They gave us a borehole after the river contamination from where we used to get water before. However, if there is no light, we usually do not have water due to the absence of a generator or any alternative power source”
This water from the river is what the RCC uses for its own activities, Dataphyte’s check shows.
Dataphyte visited the hall where residents of Orile Ogunmakin run to in the event of blasting and saw cracks already on the walls of this building. The hall also lacks basic facilities like fans or chairs. It was gathered that residents numbering about 200 usually cramp themselves in this hall, standing throughout the duration of the blast, while those who could sit on the pavement outside do.
“Sometimes even in the hall, when the rocks fly, residents are usually scared, and some usually want to run from the hall” Jamiu Ogunmakin, the ‘Baale’ (local King) of Ogunmakin noted.
The Baale of Orile Ogunmakin, Jamiu Ogunmakin, told Dataphyte that RCC activities have made life unbearable for them. According to him, the intervention they received was at the inception of the blasting in 2013 when each home received N100,000.
“When they wanted to start blasting here, they (RCC), through the king, said they wanted to give something to the community, and we each got N100,000. We did not know what their activities would cause, but they promised to give financial donations to the community every five years.”
After five years, RCC gave items such as fridges and fans, among others, to the community but not cash.
“After five years and amid our protests on their activities, they brought fridges, fans, and others. They also recently supplied sand, so any house that suffers cracks will come to take some sand and get cement themselves for plastering”
The ‘Baale’ noted that they were frustrated. Dataphyte gathered that the situation is made worse due to the fact that the mining land is located in Oyo State, while Orile Ogunmakin is located in Ogun State.
“What they claim is that they got permission from Oyo State and we are in Ogun State”.
The Orile Ogunmakin leader, however, vowed that the community people would be forced to stop activities of RCC after the completion of the Lagos Ibadan expressway.
“They claim that the blasting is for Lagos-Ibadan expressway construction, but we would not allow them to turn that place to a permanent quarry site after the road completion because we cannot leave our ancestral land for them,” he noted.
Dataphyte’s 2021 investigation called the attention of the government to happenings in Orile Ogunmakin but over one year after, the Nigerian government has failed to act on the infractions committed by the RCC, this time with full knowledge of activities going on there.
The NESREA, on its official website noted that it was responsible for enforcing compliance with laws, guidelines, policies, and standards on environmental matters.
Part 1 of the national law on blasting and quarry operations read thus;
“Extraction of rocks shall be carried out with adequate protection of the environment, plant, man, animal and general ecosystem’
The law further reads that “A person shall not blast in such a way that such blast will cause any form of discomfort or nuisance to public and residents within 1000 meters from the epicenter of the site or users of roads thereof.”
Another provision reads that “The act of blasting shall be complete, whether or not the alleged act is preceded or accompanied with vibration, air overpressure, fly rocks, dust, fumes, or that the impact is felt within 1000 meters from the site or epicenter of the blasting”
In the 2021 investigation, “Google Earth, an open-source app using satellite imagery, aided Dataphyte’s investigation in ascertaining the distance between the blasting site and residences. From the last house in the Orile Ogunmakin community to the blasting site, there are 230.08 meters, which is 0.23 kilometres. The blasting site is a mere estimated 755 feet away from houses in Orile Ogunmakin.” this situation remains the same as when Dataphyte visited the site in June 2023
RCC Reacts
When Dataphyte contacted the office of Reynolds Construction Company (RCC), Akin Akinpelu, who spoke with Dataphyte noted that the organisation had done all to ensure that Orile Ogunmakin’s residents are catered for.
He denied that laws were violated in the setting up of the quarry.
“Before we started, we ensured that laws were followed. The mining ministry was also involved. It is impossible that standards were not followed”.
He also noted that it is untrue that the mining quarry was set close to the Orile Ogunmakin community.
“Who did the measurement to determine how many feets the quarry site is” he quipped.
He also argued that NESREA could not say whether the RCC violated laws, noting that while NESREA has regulatory functions, laws laid down by the Ministry of Mines were followed.
Akinpelu denied that the organisation compensates injured persons with N100,000.
“We have Corporate Social Responsibilities that will ensure that the community’s people enjoy. Every part of the world where the blasting of rock occurs comes with issues. It is ensuring that the issues do not affect the people that matter. The people know what to do when they suffer any impact of blasting; there are set procedures, and the residents know what to do”.
Where Reynolds Construction Company insists that the suffering of Orile Ogunmakin residents is commonplace, there is no end in sight for the people’s torments by flying rocks – until the government intervenes responsibly.
Attempts to reach the NESREA failed as the phone contact of the organisation listed on its website failed to connect after trials for many days.