Traditional rulers and elders of Yewa communities in Ogun State have decried the health hazards caused by exploration of mineral resources in the zone and urged Federal Government to take adequate steps to address them.
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Rising from Yewaland Economic Summit, organised to commemorate the just-concluded 2023 Yewa Festival, the elders also took a swipe at the management of Dangote Cement factory, located in the Ibese area of Yewa South Council of the state, for neglecting the community despite its economic gains over the years.

The Olu of Ilaro and paramount ruler of Yewaland, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle, lamented that the company had refused to review its agreement with the community since 2011, when it began its operation.

He said the company signed an agreement to be paying N350 million as Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) across the entire Yewaland but has not considered a review 11 years after, even when its heavy duty vehicles are responsible for the collapse of roads across communities.

“What can N350 million do in entire Yewaland today? This money would be spread across all sectors; be it education, health, infrastructure, social amenities, among others. The money cannot build a standard lecture theatre at Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro. The compensation the company paid to our people when it acquired the land then was nothing to write home about,” he said.

In a lecture titled, “Yewaland and the Quest for Development: Graduating from Self-determination to Self-actualisation,” the Director General, Development for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, Dr. Seye Oyeleye, also lamented that due to the mineral resources found in Yewaland, the Federal Government has turned the region into an exploitation field, while ignoring the health hazards inflicted on the people.

He stressed the need for Yewaland to be treated as an important economic frontier of the South West region of Nigeria and a cultural frontier of Yoruba ethnic nationality.

Oyeleye said the zone needs good road network for its people to move their farm produce to Lagos and neighbouring Benin Republic.

The Chairman of the summit, Venerable Olusola Ladipo-Ajayi, also lamented the dearth of infrastructure and social amenities in Yewaland, stressing that this has greatly affected the economic prosperity and fortunes of the land.
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