Kano communities raise alarm over industrial waste

Residents of communities along River Wudil have called on federal and state governments to come to their aid by compelling industries from Sharada and Challawa to stop releasing their waste into River Wudil. The industrial waste, the residents alleged, is posing environmental hazard of monumental dimension to the affected communities. Addressing a press conference on […]

Residents of communities along River Wudil have called on federal and state governments to come to their aid by compelling industries from Sharada and Challawa to stop releasing their waste into River Wudil.

The industrial waste, the residents alleged, is posing environmental hazard of monumental dimension to the affected communities.

Addressing a press conference on behalf of the affected communities, the Social Director of Wudil Forum, Malam Muhammed Wudil said despite numerous complaints about the issue and health implications attached to it, but no action was taken by the government and the managements of the industries to save the lives of over a million people from the danger of contaminated water in the area.

“For some years now Wudil has been experiencing a lot of disaster regarding effluence from tanneries that always contaminate our water. Right from industries in Challawa and Panshekara, most of the chemical waste that pass through Maidile, Sabuwar Gandu into Kumbotso then into Wudil River has created a lot of problems among our people.

“Ignorantly our people drink that water directly which causes serious havoc, many fell sick and also affects the aquatic life in the river. When this toxics wash into the river the whole fish in the river died off and floated and ignorantly our people eat it and that resulted to a lot of health issues.

“Again the farms that are within the area are not fertilized enough because the chemical toxics have destroyed all the fertility of the soil,” he said.

Wudil added that the communities had written to the federal and state ministries of environment about the industrial waste disposal in the river but after several years no action was taken even as the communities continue to face the consequences.

He blamed the industries for their inability to live up to their corporate social responsibilities by ensuring environmental sustainability, urging government to, as a matter urgency, take up the issue to save the inhabitants of the affected communities.

“We wrote a letter to the Kano state ministry of environment, we went to other relevant government agencies and gave them copies and yet nothing was done.

“Kano state ministry of environment came and looked into the problem, they also invited us to a workshop once where they told the companies to have their own treatment plants but what they are doing is primary treatment which is not enough to solve the problem.

“ The emir of Kano also wrote a letter to ecological fund and they responded and he followed the letter up to Abuja, yet nothing comes out of it,” he added.