The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, NESREA, says it has sealed the premises of Pure Biotech Company, a cassava processing plant located in Benue State. The Benue State Coordinator of NESREA, Daniel Iormough, disclosed this in Makurdi, the Benue state capital, on Monday.
According to the NESREA State Coordinator, "the facility was shut down for operating without a functional Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP), thereby channelling untreated effluents directly into the River Benue."
Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) is a machine that discharges waste materials into appropriate channels.
Iormough said that NESREA had warned Pure BioTech Company over the dangers of disposing liquid waste into the Benue River following the outcome of the agency’s assessment of the company, but the company’s management failed to heed the warning.
He insisted that the company will remain sealed until the effluent plant is completed and put to use.
The action of NESREA comes less than 24 hours after Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State commissioned an investigation into the Pure BioTech Company's disposal system.
This platform reported on Sunday that Ortom has ordered an investigation into the waste disposal system of Pure Biotech Company, after a report on the issue was published by Safer-Media Initiative four months ago.
On December 16, 2022, Safer-Media Initiative reported how the discharge of waste by BioTech Cassava Processing Company into the Benue River in Angbaaye Community, Benue State, has caused a slew of problems for residents of the host community while depriving fishermen and farmers of their only source of livelihood.
Fishing community groans over company’s indiscriminate discharge of waste, chemical inside Benue River
The Safer-Media Initiative’s report fingered the NESREA for possible regulatory failure.
NESREA is the government agency responsible for enforcing all environmental laws, guidelines, policies, standards, and regulations in Nigeria, as well as enforcing compliance with provisions of international agreements, protocols, conventions, and treaties on the environment to which Nigeria is a signatory.