We’re suffocating and dying gradually – Residents of Gidan Madara in Minna cry out to Niger State Government
By Akawu Ibrahim
The residents of Gidan Madara Community and Dadin Kowa Estate have petitioned the Niger State government to, as a matter of urgency, save their lives from harmful pollutants emitting from the Golden Age plastic factory.
The Golden Age factory, located in Gidan Madara, a densely populated residential area west of Minna city gate, is known for producing sachet and bottled water but has also added the production of plastics, which residents said was posing health risks to them due to harmful emissions of air pollutants.
The petitioners, numbering 45, said they were suffocating and dying gradually, adding that the dangerous emissions from the plastic factory had made life hell and that their families were at risk of contracting debilitating health challenges.
In the petition titled “Petition for quick intervention to save our souls from noxious chemicals, plastic fumes, and soot pollution,” the residents appealed to the state government to quickly intervene in their predicament and shut down Golden Age Plastics melting and Recycling facility to save them from premature deaths resulting from inhalation of dangerous chemical emissions from the factory.
The petition was addressed to the Niger State Commissioner for Environment and Climate Change, and signed by prominent members of the communities like the former Secretary to the State Government, Alh Ahmed Ibrahim Matane, Dr. Ibrahim Kolo, Prof. Salihu Niworu, Mr. Lucky Barau, and many others, cried that the ambient air quality in the community which is residential has been degraded and poses a public health risk.
The petition, among others, read thus: the ambient air quality at Gidan Madara and Dadin Kowa Estate has been degraded. Nigeria ranks 3rd among ten countries with annual premature air pollution-related deaths.
This is the environmental injustice that we, the residents of Gidan Madara and Dadin Kowa Estate, have suffered from Golden Age Plastics melting and Recycling facility since 2019.
All efforts made to get the proprietor of the factory to stop air pollution with toxic chemicals, plastic fumes, and soot have failed. He is suffocating us and killing us gradually while he goes home to enjoy clean air.
“We are exposed to risks of blood poisoning and premature death from cardiovascular organ failure.
We suffer asphyxiation (insufficient oxygen) day and night, and some residents of Gidan Madara have already developed respiratory diseases like asthma, chronic catarrh, cough, chest pain, and insomnia.
There is no guarantee that the innocent students of Himma International College, Redeemer’s Academy, Royal Ideal Schools, frequent visitors to the Trade Fair complex, casual employees in Golden Age water factory, our children and grandchildren will ever live productive lives, having had their organs contaminated with toxins, furans, dioxins, and hard metals that are carcinogenic and capable of endocrine disruption.
“It is noteworthy that Gidan Madara layout is not an industrial layout; thus, we have appealed to relevant federal and state agencies which are capable of protecting the environment and enforcing environmental standards and guaranty the rights of all Nigerians to enjoy clean air, but they failed to stop the ecological injustice for overriding public health interest nor compel him to remove the plastics recycling plant from residential area since 2019.
“The mutation of Gidan Madara water factory to a plastics recycling facility in a predominantly residential area is an aberration in the 21st century was civilization, abuse of privileges in a peaceful neighborhood and blatant insult to Mr. Governor’s New Niger and Urban Renewal Initiatives.
“Justice is a virtue, hence our quest for environmental justice. We appeal to the Hon. Commissioner to protect our fundamental human rights to life and inalienable access to clean air with SDG 3 for good health and well-being.
We are not opposed to investment but utterly reject any investment that threatens our health and right to life.
We have endured enough. For peaceful co-existence in the neighborhood, kindly save us from further pollution and premature death. We cannot enjoy quality sleep at night or fresh air in the daytime. We are dying gradually”, the petition read.
