Panic as govt confirms another toxic waste dumped in Koko

What looks like toxic waste has again been found dumped in Koko, a farming town in the Warri North local government council of Delta state.

A community leader and president of the National Association of Itsekiri Graduates, Mr Collins Edema, was quoted on Wednesday as saying that the villagers woke up on Monday and sighted some packs of waste suspected to have been shipped from an unknown country.

He said: ” A laboratory analysis has shown that the waste material being dumped by a a foreign owned firm, Ebenco in Koko is not only Carcinogenic, but toxic, hence dangerous to both agricultural produce and aquatic life in Koko town.”

The leader said government’s attention had been drawn to the items, but nothing had been done towards carrying out more investigation into the matter.

Read also: Busted! Syndicate producing fake Peak milk, water for injection

He added that the wastes had some resemblance to former substance found in the same town in the eighties and which was later officially confirmed as toxic.

But in what looks like a tacit confirmation of the development Special Assistant to the state’s governor, Thankgod Seibi, said following a tip off from the community, a firsthand inquiry was made on the container and it had all the quality of a toxic waste.

He refused to name the source, adding that more investigations into the matter would reveal all the details.

But he said the items found at the site could pose danger to both agricultural produce and aquatic life.

“The waste was brought in from a foreign country into Nigeria and dumped at Koko. The state government is on top of the game,” Seibi said.

It could be recalled that Koko drew attention of the rest of the world when some natives allegedly collected some money from a shipping agent, who dumped dome drums of liquid items later confirned to be toxic in the town.

Pollution has been a source of tension across the Niger Delta, which often see militants from the region take up arms against the government.

 

 

 

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