Ogun Govt Threatens to Shut Table, Sachet Water Factories Over Cholera Outbreak
Ogun State government has
threatened that any company that fails the compliance exercise it is set to conduct “will be shut and remain so until it passes the laid down procedures.
This is a reaction to the outbreak of Cholera in some parts of the state.
In October, 12 persons died of Cholera after 250 cases were recorded in Ijebu North, Abeokuta South, and Abeokuta North Local Government Areas of Ogun; Daily Post reported.
The Commissioner for Environment, Ola Oresanya, at a stakeholder’s meeting with members of the Table Water And Beverages Producers Association of Nigeria, Ogun State Chapter, stated that the compliance exercise is compulsory to address the environmental and hygienic negligence detected in water production processes.
Oresanya added that the environmental and hygienic negligence detected in the companies is at variance with their earlier certification by the National Agency For Food And Drug Administration And Control (NAFDAC)which in his words, “resulted in the outbreak of Cholera which claimed some lives while others were hospitalized.”
According to Oresanya, the state government with the compliance exercise, will now “domesticate the NAFDAC certification” throughout the state, saying the team will move to all water-producing factories for on-the-spot assessment of water production processes.
“The team will among others demand routine microbial analysis results of their products, check the distance of their production boreholes to their septic tanks, their operational environment as well as a medical certificate of fitness of their products for human consumption.”
The Commissioner maintained that all registered and unregistered water factories would be visited, even as he called for total support from the stakeholders.
He, however, buttressed that the government is not out to witch-hunt any of them but to safeguard the health of its residents from preventable waterborne diseases.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the association in Ogun State Chapter, Femi Olukoga, pledged his members’ support for the exercise.
Present at the meeting were Officials of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Industries, Trade and Investment.
Follow us for more stories…
Author
