: The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Hon. Nkiru Onyejiosha has ordered the shut down of a Metal Manufacturing Company, ‘Gbara’, near Sotubo, in Sagamu local government area of Ogun State, for exposing the its workers to health hazards.
The company, which is into battery manufacturing and deals with lead however refused to provide protective gear for its workers, despite several warnings from the Occupational Safety and Health department of Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Onyejiosha disclosed that the recalcitrant attitude of the management of the company to abide by the law of the country and ensure that its workforce operates according to global standards practice forced her to come and ensure that the law of the land is upheld.
Onyejiosha who stormed the factory around 2pm, said that President Bola Tinubu’s administration will never condone any act of sharp practices that will undermine the health of its citizens.
She said, “after being told of what is happening here at this company, I told my staff to come around and instruct them to do what the law says, because they deal with lead which is quite harmful, I told them that the company should do some cleaning up and ensure that their workers are properly kitted so that their lives will not just be endangered unnecessarily, but I later got the report that the company refused to heed the advice.
“So I said, let me come here from Abuja to see things for myself and what I saw was worse than what was described to me. It was totally awful and unacceptable.
“I have never seen the kind of irresponsibility I am seeing at this factory from any manufacturer though, they are telling me that theirs is still better, but I have told them that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration will never tolerate this illegality, expecially for those who considered the country as dumping ground and where they could get cheap labour and do things to suit them, making money at the expense of Nigerians.
“I have seen things for myself, we met the workers without their boot on, packing things with their hands, no helmet on their heads. No, this is wrong because those running this company won’t dare do this in their country. So, we have gone round and seen things for ourselves and I have pronounced that the company is prohibited until the management is ready to do things as it is provided for in the laws of our land.
“President Tinubu’s government is really against these sharp practices and for those who are not ready to operate according to the rules of the land, they are free to wound up and go, they should stop subjecting our people to such dehumanising conditions under the guise of providing employment for them”.
