A cashew-nut producing company, SONATA Agri Limited have been sealed by the Ogun State Government.
The company situated at Km 51, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Mowe in Obafemi-Owode Local was sealed for committing environmental infractions through air and water pollution.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Environment, Mr Ola Oresanya disclosed that the shutdown was necessitated after several warning to the company to stop the pollution were ignored and government had no option than to close it down in the interest of public safety and hygiene.
Oresanya stated: “In the case of this company, we actually gave them a stop-work order when we discovered the reckless soothes emanating from their power plants. We then invited them, directed them on what to do, but they remained recalcitrant.
“So, we sealed the company because of the risk their continued operations will have on people living around the company especially children and pregnant women due to fumes from these plants.
“Also, the release of waste-water from their steaming machines during the Clean in Place (CIP) into drainages equally posed another serious treat to the environment which the state government will not tolerate.
“This is a state that pride itself as an agrarian state and as highly industrialized as we are, we don’t joke with air quality of the environment because we want to make the state as liveable as possible for residents.”
The governor’s aide also warned industries still polluting the environment to desist forthwith as according to him, no matter how smart they may be, they cannot beat the state environmental regulatory authorities.
He hereby counselled them to be more environmentally friendly as the lives of residents is more important to the state government than the income they bring to the state.
