The Ogun State Waste Management Authority (OGWAMA) has shut down two Chinese companies: Yibao Industrial Limited, Bara Village, along the Sagamu-Abeokuta Expressway, and Ronchang Industrial Park, opposite the Julius Berger yard, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Ewu-Osile.

The companies were shut down for operating in dirty environments and disposing of waste improperly by refusing to engage accredited waste collectors.

Mr Abayomi Hunye, Special Adviser to the Governor and Managing Director of OGWAMA, disclosed that the two companies were shut down after several warnings about the need to clean their environment and stop littering their premises with waste, which contravenes Section 17 of the Ogun State Waste Management Law 2020.

According to him, the two companies were also found guilty of engaging the services of unaccredited waste collectors to evacuate their waste in contravention of Section 17 of the Ogun State Waste Management Authority Law of 2020.

They were also penalised for continually preventing the assigned waste collectors from evacuating their waste from their facilities since 2021.

Their unaccredited waste collectors, who operate at odd hours, were also found guilty of illegally dumping waste on the Sagamu-Abeokuta and Lagos-Ibadan Expressways.

Hunye said: “Shutting them down is to ensure they comply with the state’s waste management standard. We have served them several notices and warnings, and they refused to comply. We have inspected their premises several times to counsel them to clean their environment and engage government-approved waste collectors, but they were unyielding.

“So, we have no alternative but to shut them down in the overriding public interest, as their behaviour and actions show gross disrespect for constituted authority, especially from companies owned by foreigners who are hell-bent on destroying our environment.”