The Ogun State Waste Management Authority has pulled the plug on Quantum Packaging Nigeria Limited, a paper processing company caught running a sprawling illegal dumpsite and torching waste along the Lusada-Igbesa Road in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area. The crackdown, announced on Monday by Governor’s Special Adviser and OGWAMA Managing Director Farouk Akintunde, lands the firm in hot water for breaching Section 2(b)(a) of the OGWAMA Law 2020 and the Ogun State Environmental and Public Health Law 2006, both of which outright ban open-air burning and unpermitted refuse dumping.
Akintunde revealed the company was snared after a sweeping surveillance operation zeroed in on facilities flouting environmental rules. He recounted a personal visit to the site that first raised red flags. “As a regulatory body, we are charged with the management and administration of waste. Regrettably, I was here on a familiarisation visit to this particular company where I discovered that they dumped waste indiscriminately inside their factory instead of allowing government-accredited waste collectors to collect and dispose of it properly. They were subsequently warned to desist,” he said.
But the warning only pushed the firm underground. Akintunde explained that his team’s follow-up monitoring exposed a much darker reality: a vast dumpsite sprawled across a large expanse of land near the factory, where burning was routinely used to mask the mess. “This warning led to our surveillance team monitoring their waste disposal, and it was discovered that they operate a very big dumpsite on a large expanse of land near their factory where a lot of burning was equally done to hide their dastardly act, so the Authority and the state government had no option but to shut them down,” he added.
The official hammered home the human cost, warning that the company’s illicit practices poison the air and threaten the health of nearby residents. “Waste burning is dangerous and causes several health challenges, especially cancer,” he said, stressing that the state government refuses to stand by while firms wreck the environment and endanger lives.
Quantum Packaging won’t see its doors swing open again until it demolishes the illegal dumpsite and submits a credible remediation plan to clear every trace of waste from the land. For now, the message from Ogun authorities is unmistakable: environmental recklessness has a price, and this company is paying it.
