Despair persists nine years after The Nation exposed Lafarge’s devastation of Ewekoro
Cement company commissions school, other CSR projects following investigative reports
Host communities’ health, safety form core values of our operations – Lafarge Africa
Strolling through Ewekoro is like sifting through the crust of a previous existence. Even in the cheerless lull of a dreary afternoon, the village repulses like dead foetus. The bushes look green from afar. Closer, the greenery bleeds into thick grey blotches of cement dust. The cocoa yam leaves, cassava plants and vanishing palm trees bear insolent marks of industrial tenant, Lafarge Africa’s cement waste.
Amid the bleakness, however, stands a block of three classrooms meant to host a secondary school. Painted in two shades of green, and sited in Egbado-Ajegunle, a village 30 minutes walk from Ewekoro, the building is Lafarge Africa’s urgent response to The Nation’s investigative reportage on the devastation it has wrought on Ewekoro, the immediate host community to its cement production plant. In a previous series, The Nation revealed that despite the devastation wrought on Ewekoro by the multinational cement company, the community has no school or health facility.
In response to The Nation’s expose, the multinational cement company commissioned, on Thursday, December 14, “a block comprising three classrooms, office and toilets.” The foundation stone of the project bears the inscription: “Built by Lafarge, A member of Holcim, in conjunction with the Ewekoro community.”
The following day, Friday, December 15, the cement company held its Community Day celebration. At the celebration marking its 2023 Community Day, Lafarge Africa launched a series of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects in Ewekoro.
At the event held in Egbado-Ajegunle, which highlighted the company’s CSR projects in Ewekoro and its 11 satellite communities, the Chairman of the Ewekoro Community Relations Committee, Dotun Oderinde, who was represented by Gbemisola Sunday, commended Lafarge Africa for its contributions to its host communities and pleaded for more employment opportunities for their youths.
“The company has been doing well for these communities. Various projects have been launched, and many women and youths have benefited from their CSR programme. Over 200 students are benefiting from their bursary award every year. They give uniforms and notebooks to indigent pupils in various schools. But, we want Lafarge to increase its budget for CSR because of inflation in the country. We need more cooperation in the area of employment of sons and daughters of the community too,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, Prince Bola Awesu, an indigene and community leader in Ewekoro commended Lafarge Africa for initiating “transformative projects,” stressing that the cement company “has consistently supported its host communities and met their needs over the past few years.
He said, “In healthcare, they provide facilities and initiatives that have benefited our people, and despite challenging climates, they continue to assist local farmers with essential farm implements. Additionally, the company contributes to education through bursaries and scholarships, which has enabled less privileged students to complete their studies. In Ewekoro, Lafarge has built a modern town hall and just yesterday commissioned the first secondary school in our vicinity.”
Lafarge Africa’s Group Managing Director, Lolu Alade-Akinyemi, on his part, stated “At Lafarge Africa, community engagement isn’t just an obligation; it’s deeply ingrained as one of our values in sustainability. Our annual Community Day Celebration is a testament to our dedication to giving back and nurturing sustainable development in the places we call home.”
Alade-Akinyemi commended the state government, traditional rulers, and the Community Relations Committee for creating an enabling environment for the company’s business.
Beyond the pageant…
Beyond the buzz of the CSR initiatives, outside the perimeters of Egbado-Ajegunle, Ewekoro subsists as a dispiriting picture of desolateness and neglect. Seasons bring nothing to this gulch save a harsh intimate anecdote painfully scrawled here and there, along barren footpaths, and on paint and stone of several houses tottering and yawning, like vastly crushed faces with holes big enough for ants, rodents and bats to dart in and out of their gaping chasms.
“Nothing thrives in Ewekoro. That is why Lafarge finds it difficult to construct any project of note in the community. It would be unacceptable to education and health authorities for the company to build a school here (in Ewekoro). They know they would be endangering pupils and minors, in particular, as they would be exposed to cement dust pollution from their factory,” said Abiodun Otun, a plumber and former resident of Ewekoro.
The greatest damage, however, is done to the farmlands. “We can’t farm here anymore. I used to cultivate ofada, cocoa, cassava and palm kernel seeds. I used to produce palm oil from palm kernel seeds and sell it to wholesalers. I had a lot of people working with me. Families sent their children to learn palm oil making under me but when Lafarge arrived in Ewekoro, I lost everything. My late husband’s farmland died from pollution. My farm too. We suffered huge losses. My children and grandchildren visited recently but they couldn’t sleep over. They had to go and sleep in a guest house in Itori. They have decided to relocate me to live with them in Ibadan,” said Ajiun Okelola, widow.
Ghosts beneath the waters
A trip around the village leads to greying tracts that coalesce where several bush paths meet and veer to the forgotten footpath to the Osun River.
The river, also widely known as the Ewekoro River, sated the thirst of the natives and irrigated Ewekoro and neighbouring communities’ expansive farmlands.
En route to the forest, the reporter was hit by an eerie sense of Deja Vu; just as it was during my first visit to the river, nine years ago, a pall of darkness floated above the swampy expanse into the groove of the river.
In the groove, all kinds of things drifted with filth and stagnant waste to litter the waterway: weeds, jetsam, tadpoles, frogs, animal cadavers, and a lot yet unidentifiable in the deep of the river.
It took time to hear what the river seemed to be saying and with the wind nudging them, the foliage too. It becomes difficult to understand why the forest should have a voice; the crickets chirped like old ghosts from the undergrowth and a light wind peeled back the greenery to reveal a sand grave and what is still left of an expanse that once heaved with cash crops.
Far beneath the swamp of thicket and debris littering the river lays a deadly deposit of quicksand. Along the marsh leading to the deathtrap, a giant rat is seen gnawing at something, perhaps, a bat cadaver thus littering the swamp with the bones of yet another ghost.
There seemed to be too many ghosts beneath and about the Osun River: the ghosts of sumptuous fishes that gradually turned toxic, according to the natives; the ghosts of men: farmers and fishermen and their endeavours in time of youth and the haunting lilt of folk song sung by the village women while they harvested palm kernel to make palm oil.
Under the prod of hurrying feet, the sand shifted with water as if to wipe, once more, footprints of the forgotten farmers that tilled the vanishing farmlands and the crickets’ chirp added weight to the wind thus parting the shrubbery atop the river to show even more clearly, the toxic wreck that the river has become.
All the details merged to accentuate the tragedy that has befallen the river and the vanishing farmlands.
Before Lafarge arrived in the area, the Ewekoro LGA had five rivers which were used for irrigation, fishing and drinking purposes. The rivers were Ewekoro (also known as Osun River), Amititi, Sofuntere, Abalaye and Olorekore rivers. But the cement company reportedly channeled away the five rivers into its quarry causing the rivers to dry up. In Ewekoro, the Osun River – also known as the Ewekoro River – has equally been destroyed. It is currently overrun by cement slurry, stagnant filth, and a swamp of weeds.
According to multiple scientific studies, the persistent discharge of industrial waste and cement slurry into Ewekoro’s waterbodies, which used to be the community’s sole source of natural water, made water from the river unsafe for cooking and human consumption.
The natives can’t fish in it. They had to stop fishing in the river when the fish tasted funny. The fish tasted contaminated and dry in the mouth, like bad wood, according to a community chieftain. Ever since the river’s flow got impeded and the water got contaminated by Lafarge Africa’s operations, life has worsened for the residents of Ewekoro.
The loss of the Ewekoro River to pollution knelled the death of the community’s once thriving agricultural economy. It is sadder to watch the Osun River grow fetid and stagnant with filth even as the community suffers the extinction of its agricultural touchstone.
A harvest full of toxins
Aside from Ewekoro’s loss of its waterbodies, food and cash crops get destroyed as farm produce is affected by cement dust released into the atmosphere. The Nation’s findings revealed the extent of environmental degradation of Ewekoro’s farmlands; for instance, plantains harvested from a farm bore marks of stunted growth.
In a recent study published in 2023, and titled, “Assessment of Radium Equivalent Activity and Total Annual Effective Dose in Cassava” cultivated around Ewekoro Cement Factory, a team of researchers led by Olusegun Adewoyin of the Departments of Physics and Biological Sciences, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, discovered that the health of residents, children and infants in particular, are imperiled by their consumption of the food crop.
In the study which was conducted to assess the radionuclide content of the food crop, 27 samples of both arable soil and cassava tubers were studied at different sites to the epicenter of the mining activity.
The results revealed the highest activity concentrations of radionuclide content respectively, in the soil to be at Site 1, which was 50 m away from the cement mining site. All the results, according to the study, were higher than the recommended safe limits by a factor of two. “Moreover, the Total Annual Effective Dose of exposure by oral ingestion of cassava tubers for different age groups revealed children to have the highest level of exposure with the highest mean value of 7.98 mSv. Therefore, the results of the total averages of annual effective doses due to consumption of the three natural radionuclides in cassava tubers and other products by adults, children, and infants were found to be above the average annual ingestion radiation dose due to natural sources,” according to the study.
According to health experts, cancer is the major consequence of ingesting radionuclides. Radium, via oral exposure, is known to cause bone, head, and nasal passage tumours in humans, and radon, via inhalation exposure, causes lung cancer in humans. Uranium may cause lung cancer and tumours of the lymphatic and hematopoietic tissues.
In another study carried out to determine the extent to which Lafarge Africa’s operations affect agricultural output in the area, it was discovered that the company’s activities affect agricultural output negatively through environmental degradation.
The study which was anchored by Kola Subair, PhD, of the School of Business, Media and Information Technology, American Heritage University, San Bernadino, United States of America (USA) used farmers in Ewekoro as the target population and Owode (Owode is not within the same LGA as Ewekoro) farmers as a control population.
The management staff and employees of Lafarge and farmers in the studied locations were respondents. In all, 111 respondents made up of 11 staff of Lafarge and 100 farmers from the studied locations were carefully selected. One management staff and 10 other staff of the cement company were selected through a systematic sampling procedure using the staff list as the sampling frame.
Fifty farmers were also randomly selected from the list of farmers made available by the Village Extension Agents (VEAS) of the Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme (OGADEP) for each study area.
In its gross margin and profit analyses the study shows that the gross margin for average farmers in Owode shows a considerable reduction in cost as the farm size increases while that of Ewekoro increases along with its farm size. This is corroborated by the lower total variable cost (TVC) of N10,538.44 naira incurred by Owode farmers compared to that of N13,686.15 incurred by Ewekoro farmers.
Worse still, the Ewekoro farmers earn less revenue compared to Owode farmers. The revenue earned by an average farmer in Ewekoro was N47, 744.79 while that of an Owode farmer was N61, 745.60 per harvest period.
A history of futile protests
In a letter addressed to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2001, the community sought the assistance of the former president in taming the scourge of Lafarge’s operations in their neighbourhood. In the letter, titled: “SOS to President Olusegun Obasanjo,” the community claimed that the cement company had not “shown sympathy” to their plight and urged the President to be magnanimous in coming to their aid.
In another eight-paragraph letter written by the community’s attorney to the cement company’s management, the community demanded reparations from the company to the tune of N2.5 billion.
In 1985, through a publication in the now defunct National Concord newspaper of December 4, the community called the attention of the then military governor of Ogun State, Captain Mohammed Lawal to the company’s activities. The community also contracted a law firm to write the cement company on February 10, 1993, to demand reparation for loss and damages suffered by the company’s limestone blasting and cement production activities but the cement company customarily rebuffed their effort.
On February 20, 1995, the community embarked on a protest at the company’s factory gates at Ewekoro with placards bearing the inscriptions: “No more blasting without building houses for us; “Enough is enough, 30 years (1960-1990) lease expired without any payment;” “Fresh negotiation required for second term (1991-2020) 30 years lease.”
Politics of a lease agreement
The natives claim that Ewekoro communities are being defrauded of their dues conferred upon them by a lease agreement signed on January 13, 1964, on behalf of WAPCO now Lafarge-WAPCO by the Western regional government of the period. They claim the lease was extended over 500 years contrary to provisions of the signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which compelled the then Ministry of Land to sign a 30-year basic lease agreement with WAPCO commencing on October 27, 1963. The agreement reportedly compelled the cement company to pay annual rents to the land owners through the Western regional government, making the rents revisable after 20 years and every 10 years thereafter.
To this, Lafarge responded: “To the best of our knowledge, there is an existing lease from the appropriate authorities which Lafarge is operating in Ewekoro. Anyone with copies of other agreements should produce such for all to see.”
We have executed several CSR projects in Ewekoro – Lafarge Africa
Above the din of native dissent, Lafarge Africa demonstrates commendable performance as a responsible corporate citizen, according to the company’s Head of Corporate Communications, Ginikanwa Frank-Durugbor. Shedding light on Lafarge Africa’s social interventions in Ewekoro, she said, “We acknowledge our host communities as valued partners, working collaboratively towards a shared future. Through job creation, annual CSR interventions, and various positive contributions to the ecosystem, we continually enhance the livelihoods of the community residents. Our commitment lies in leaving enduring positive impacts that benefit society at large.”
According to her, several CSR projects have been successfully executed in Ewekoro, encompassing a variety of initiatives including the construction of a Community Townhall, a block comprising three classrooms, office and toilets, the installation of boreholes and overhead tanks for water supply, construction of public toilet facilities, lockup shops and the implementation of drainage systems.
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“We also provide non-infrastructural interventions including farmers support scheme, bursary awards to tertiary students as well as elders support to the elderly. In addition to these are youth empowerment initiatives to the residents of the Ewekoro community where we distribute things like tricycles (Keke NAPEPS), sewing machines, motorbikes, and freezers to enable the youth to run their business and improve their livelihood,” she said.
Relief at last?
In the wake of The Nation’s reportage, Lafarge Africa launched a host of CSR projects including a block of three classrooms meant for a secondary school. Even so, several residents accord the company’s CSR projects a quizzical glance. Some argue it is a knee-jerk reaction to what it deems uncomplimentary media mention.
“Everything will stop immediately the media attention stops. All the meetings they have with our traditional rulers only benefit the traditional rulers and their cliques,” laments a member of the community.
Corroborating her, a member of the community’s chieftaincy council revealed that traditional rulers are unable to speak the truth about their condition because they fear losing the contract opportunities and patronage they enjoy from Lafarge Africa. Consequently, they seek to quash dissent from any quarter within the company’s host communities.
It would be recalled that Baale Gabriel Akinremi suffered a persistent backlash from fellow traditional rulers in the community, nine years ago, in the wake of The Nation’s exposure to the environmental degradation and health hazards posed by Lafarge’s operations. He was singled out for granting The Nation an interview, even though he wasn’t the only news medium interviewed. Other chiefs pleaded anonymity. Eventually, Akinremi caved into bullying from his colleagues and state government officials, and by the second instalment of a five-part investigative series, he was begging The Nation to stop publishing the reports. The Nation would go on to complete the series against all odds.
Nine years after the initial exposure much still needs to be done to alleviate the living conditions of the people of Ewekoro.
From the point of view of an environment management practitioner, Professor Michael Ajide Oyinloye of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Environmental Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, there is need to significantly and painlessly reduce the volume of carbon dioxide emissions resulting from Ewekoro cement factory considering the importance of carbon dioxide in the greenhouse gas effects in global warming.
He said, “Considering the quantity of carbon dioxide produced per ton of cement, the use of mineral admixtures, which would otherwise, be landfilled is a must for the environment and the cement industries.
“Effort geared toward reclaiming the quarry site should be extended further by actually transforming quarry site into parks and gardens for recreational purpose via such projects like afforestation, scarification and final conversion into animal zoos and gardens where people can visit and pay a token that will be used in maintaining such projects.”
Professor Oyinloye stated that the location of cement industries should be far from residential areas to avoid the menace of noise, vibration, dust and heavy vehicular movement, and the government should look into the pollution control policy, putting into consideration that on no occasion should any residential building be allowed for approval within 1km to any cement factory to reduce the rate of inhalation harmful substances by the people.”
That’s in the long run, in the short run, neither the Federal Ministries of Health, Environment or Solid Minerals nor their counterparts in the host state to Lafarge Africa, Ogun, have shown any interest in the plight of the natives of Ewekoro.
However, The Nation’s findings revealed that aside from Lafarge Africa’s rush of CSR projects in Ewekoro, it has brokered a meeting with aggrieved residents of the community. The meeting which was supposed to be held on Friday, December 22, has been rescheduled for Thursday, December 28.
To futility and beyond
As Lafarge prepares to meet its hosts on the drawing board, there are hopes that the meeting would signal new vistas of constructive engagement cum mutually beneficent co-existence between the industrial tenant and its host community.
Against the backdrop of the planned meeting, dystopia persists in Ewekoro. Despair shines like final fate in the pealing grey of its dying glen as the natives bemoan their sacrificed lives, sighing through fruitless streets.
Their sighs rattle the air with an eerie resonance as the township recoils, like a dirt palace abandoned on a tract indecent miles from the Government House in Oke Mosan, Abeokuta.
“After your reports, what next? You were here nine years ago. Government feigned interest. Lafarge hastened a series of CSR programmes. And that was it. Your stories can’t provoke the kind of miracle that we want. Even if it would happen, it won’t be in my lifetime,” said a traditional chief in Ewekoro.
Left to him, the devastation of his birth land may continue unchecked as the government and regulatory authorities are oblivious to their miseries.
He said, “In some way, I believe they are simply waiting for my generation to die off. Afterwards, they will buy what’s left of Ewekoro off our children, for a token.”
Only then would the cancelling out be complete, perhaps. Until then, the embattled natives will continue to distil survival from heartbreak, sleeping and waking in homes completely buried in sludge and cement dust.
Parents will recall wistfully when Ewekoro pulsed and prospered by its agricultural economy even as their children depart in search of greener pastures.
Those who pack up and leave often take a look around before their departure, knowing they will never return. Those who choose to stay are too stubborn, too stoic, and too poor to have much choice.
‘We have successfully executed several CSR projects in Ewekoro’ – Lafarge
Head, Corporate Communications, Ginikanwa Frank-Durugbor, sheds light on multinational’s social interventions in Ewekoro.
What measures have been taken by Lafarge Africa to mitigate the health impact of the environmental pollution of Ewekoro on the natives of its host community?
At Lafarge Africa, Health and Safety is a core value and is embedded throughout our operations. At our Ewekoro plant, we continue to implement the following measures to address environmental impacts associated with cement manufacturing activities: I. We continuously ensure our operations are carried out according to the standard environmental regulations of the nation. ii. We have installed the most recent dust abatement equipment which is the bag house system to filter dust from our operations before exiting the stack chimneys and we have a robust maintenance system in place to ensure its functionality. iii. As part of our responsibility to the Holcim group and to ensure good environmental compliance, we have installed online monitoring equipment in our plants; to measure our dust emissions continuously. This equipment is also calibrated at regular schedules, to ensure there is no deviation from regulatory standards. iv. We periodically engage community residents through focus group discussions (a combination of the community chiefs, Men, women and Youth) using a government-accredited consultant to evaluate the impact of Lafarge operations on the neighbouring communities. The subject of discussion usually entails common diseases, livelihood, sources of income and advantages/disadvantages of Lafarge operation around the communities.
Feedback from these discussions is usually submitted alongside our statutory environmental report to the regulatory authority. After submission, officials of the Ministry of Environment come for a verification visit to the communities to validate the feedback received. So far, we have not been notified of any breaches relating to the health of villagers.
How does Lafarge Africa evaluate the effectiveness of those measures? What are the yardsticks used to determine their success or otherwise?
Regularly, we monitor our impacts to ensure that they are within the regulatory limits. For example. A) Noise and vibration during every of our blasting operations and all data from the last 2 years were below the Federal Ministry of Environment for noise and below W.H.O. standards of 5 mm/s for vibration.
B) Quarterly, a government-accredited environmental consultant visits the plant to carry out measurements of our stack emissions and run-off water discharges. All measurement data are within the regulatory standards.
C) Monthly dust and Noise measurement of the LAP fence line is done by 3rd party consultant to evaluate our impact.
D) A periodic comprehensive environmental audit of our facility is a statutory requirement according to regulation. From the last environmental audit, analytical data from the soil, water, particulate matter, and vegetation were all below the Nigerian regulatory limit.
We conduct a periodic audit of our system by the Holcim group, Federal Ministry of Environment, Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Standard Organization of Nigeria and State Ministry of Environment.
We also measure effectiveness through Compliance Monitoring by the regulatory agencies.
Would you say the company has accorded Ewekoro access to the best CSR initiatives (in medical and social projects for instance) vis-a-vis the damage wreaked on the community by its operations?
Lafarge demonstrates commendable performance as a responsible corporate citizen. We acknowledge our host communities as valued partners, working collaboratively towards a shared future. Through job creation, annual CSR interventions, and various positive contributions to the ecosystem, we continually enhance the livelihoods of the community residents. Our commitment lies in leaving enduring positive impacts that benefit society at large.
Several CSR projects have been successfully executed in Ewekoro, encompassing a variety of initiatives. For example, Construction of a Community Townhall. Construction of a block comprising three classrooms, office and toilets. Installation of boreholes and overhead tanks for water supply.
Construction of public toilet facilities. Construction of lockup shops. Implementation of drainage systems, among other endeavours.
We also provide non-infrastructural interventions including a farmers’ support scheme, bursary awards to tertiary students as well as elder support to the elderly.
In addition to these are youth empowerment initiatives for the residents of the Ewekoro community where we distribute things like Keke Napeps, sewing machines, motorbikes, and freezers to enable the youth to run their businesses and improve their Livelihood.
Would you say Lafarge has executed CSR programmes in Ewekoro on the same scale as in other communities in the Local Government Area (LGA)?
All our 12 host communities are assigned an equal budget yearly from the current allocated annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) budget for equity and fairness. Lafarge executes CSR programmes in the Ewekoro community on the same scale as all other host communities in the Local Government.
How does Lafarge Africa evaluate the effectiveness and success of its CSR initiatives in Ewekoro? What are the yardsticks used to determine the success or otherwise of social projects, for instance?
All our host communities are equally important to us and we highly value good relations with them.
Our evaluation framework places significant emphasis on ensuring the sustainability and lasting benefits of our projects in Ewekoro. We assess projects based on criteria such as the long-term impact, encompassing both the duration and breadth of influence within the community. Additionally, we evaluate initiatives concerning their capacity-building aspects, the empowerment of community members, and their potential to cultivate self-reliance. To gauge the success of our CSR interventions in Ewekoro, we employ various tools and methodologies. These include active stakeholder engagement to understand community needs, feedback mechanisms to gather beneficiary input, impact assessment studies, and continuous monitoring and evaluation processes. These measures collectively aid us in determining the effectiveness and overall impact of our initiatives on the community’s sustainable development.
What in your estimation may constitute the most realistic and long-term solution to Lafarge Africa’s pollution of Ewekoro?
Our commitment is to keep running our operations in line with the principles of sustainable development and comply with applicable legal, regulatory, industry and corporate requirements.
What is the annual budget each host community gets for CSR projects.
At Lafarge Africa Plc (LAP), our people and communities are at the heart of our social interventions.
Therefore, on an annual basis, we ensure that our host communities receive a CSR allocation. For the Ewekoro community specifically, N216million is allocated and this is shared equally among the 12 host communities. (This information is also available in our annual reports).
Is there a way Lafarge monitors the disbursement and implementation in order to ascertain that they are used for the intended social projects?
The CSR allocation is not disbursed directly to the host communities in cash, but is used for projects identified by each host community.
We have developed four CSR pillars based on the areas of the most need for the host communities, which are Education, Empowerment, Health and Safety and Shelter and Infrastructure. The host communities then identify projects based on these CSR pillars and submit their project request through the Community Relations Committee (which is made up of representatives from each of the 12 host communities, as well as LAP ). We ensure that the projects are implemented by vendors from the communities, who are accredited through a procurement process, to boost the local economy. In line with the agreed project milestones, payment is made to the vendors.
To ensure the projects are properly delivered, there is a sub committee of the Community Relations Committee, known as the Project Monitoring Committee, responsible for monitoring each project to ensure it is properly delivered. In addition, we conduct regular monitoring and evaluation exercises to ascertain the impact and beneficiaries of each CSR project.”