A socio-cultural group, Yewa Defender, has urged Dangote Cement Plc at Ibese in Yewa North Local Government Area (LGA) of Ogun State to carry out a review of the report on Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA) of its proposed coal mining in 15 days.
TOP MEDIA reports that the socio-cultural group’s position was contained in a statement by its General-Secretary, Olajide Amusan, obtained by this media platform.
Yewa Defender condemned Dangote’s failure to fulfill its promise of organising a public display/review of the EIA report on its coal mining project as directed by the Federal Ministry of Environment.
The project, it said, would give Dangote Cement an alternative source of energy, but cause serious health challenges to host communities.
It added that the EIA report is to sensitise the public and seek experts’ views on how to mitigate the negative impact of the coal mining on host communities.
“The Federal Ministry of Environment had, in that announcement, actually sent out public notice (Ref: FMEnv/EA/EIA/5232/Vol.1/86,) signed by Dr. Musa Gashau, on behalf of the minister, requesting public/stakeholders comments and opinions on the proposed coal mining by Dangote Cement Plc, Ibese.
“The letter, dated June 9, 2022, was supposed to be accompanied with a draft copy of Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIA), which was supposed to have been delivered to stakeholders for assessment, input and feedback to the ministry before granting Dangote Cement Plc the required mining licence. The required public sensitisation and request for feedback that was scheduled for 21 days only lasted 12 hours.
“The organisation claims to have held meetings with top management of Dangote Cement, with assurances from the company to organise the required EIA report.
“It is regrettable that till date, months after the meetings, the management has failed to carry out the public review, an attempt Yewa Defender Organisation viewed as ‘’a wilful display of delay tactics and flagrant reneging on promises made,” the statement reads.
