Quarry blast kills 25-year-old man in Ibadan

…triggers protest

By Adeola Badru

Tension has gripped Orisunmibare assemblage successful Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State, pursuing the decease of a 25-year-old man, Abiodun Alarape, who was killed during a quarry blast allegedly carried retired by Sequoia Mining Company Limited, located astatine Akilapa country beside Rochas School on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The incident, which occurred 2 Saturdays ago, has sparked outrage among residents, who accused the Chinese-owned quarry of endangering lives and destroying spot done its predominant blasting operations.

The assemblage besides alleged that the company’s activities person caused structural harm to houses and exposed residents to terrible biology hazards.

Eyewitnesses said that flying rocks from the blast struck the deceased, who worked astatine a adjacent factory, sidesplitting him instantly.

The calamity has reignited choler implicit what residents described arsenic years of negligence and disregard for information by the quarry operators.

Protesters carrying placards with inscriptions specified arsenic “Stop the killing”, “No much blasting”, “We are not slaves”, and “Quarry indispensable go” stormed the entranceway of the institution connected Monday, demanding its contiguous closure and evacuation from the community.

Speaking during the protest, the Coordinator of the Orisunmibare Community Development Forum, Mr Ayo Akinyemi, said the company’s blasting operations had turned the country into a information zone.

“We are facing a superior biology and nationalist information crisis. Just past week, they carried retired a blast that sent rocks flying everywhere.”

“One of them deed a young man, sidesplitting him connected the spot. Our houses are cracking, roofs are collapsing, and the full crushed shakes similar an earthquake whenever they blast,” helium said.

Akinyemi revealed that respective reports had been made to the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and different authorities, but nary decisive enactment was taken.

“In this aforesaid area, the Oyo State Government’s Ladoja Estate task is ongoing. If 1 of their workers had been hit, we cognize the authorities would person reacted immediately. We are saying capable is enough; this quarry indispensable go.”

“We don’t privation to hold until different beingness is lost. We are calling connected Governor Seyi Makinde, NESREA, and each applicable authorities to enactment immediately. Our lives and homes are astatine hazard each azygous day,” Akinyemi added.

Another assemblage leader, Mr. Abiodun Akanji, condemned the company’s determination to proceed operations a time aft the fatal incident, describing it arsenic a amusement of disregard for quality life.

“My location has been destroyed 3 times due to the fact that of their blasting. We person grounds and photographs. Despite the decease of that young man, they resumed enactment the precise adjacent day.”

“This shows that they person nary sympathy oregon respect for the lives of radical surviving here,” helium lamented.

Also speaking, Mrs. Olufadeke Akinyemi emphasised that the contented was not astir monetary compensation but astir the information of families successful the area.

“We are not asking for money; we are asking for safety. Our homes are collapsing, and our children are astatine risk.

“We’ve made countless complaints, yet thing has been done. The authorities indispensable measurement successful earlier different calamity occurs,” she said.

Officials of NESREA were astatine the tract to measure the situation. The Assistant Chief Environmental Health Officer for the Oyo State Field Office, Mrs. Mojisola Adeoye, who represented the State Coordinator, Mr. Toyin Obagiri, confirmed that a stop-work bid had been issued to the institution pending investigation.

“We received reports that a quarry blast led to a fatality, and we instantly issued a verbal stop-work order, which the institution has complied with. We are present to conscionable each acrophobic parties and transportation retired a thorough investigation,” Adeoye explained.

Responding, the Administrative Officer of Sequoia Mining Company Limited, Mr. Akinola Sanusi, described the incidental arsenic an unfortunate accident, exp...