Cholera Outbreak: Ogun to Verify Companies Producing Water, Beverages

As part of moves to curb the outbreak of cholera in some parts of Ogun State which has killed at least 12 people, the Ogun State Government through the Ministry of Environment is set to commence the verification process for the producers of table water and beverages in the state

The Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Ola Oresanya, according to a statement made available to our correspondent on Sunday, disclosed this during a stakeholders meeting with the Table Water and Beverages Producers Association of Nigeria held at the ministry’s conference hall, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

Mr Oresanya said that the meeting was necessary for the agency to know those who were registered water producers who were complying with the process of water production.

He said it became necessary to monitor the hygienic process of producing water products and ensure that they met the required standard for human consumption, to avert health hazards that could affect the lives and well-being of the people.

“The state will not tolerate any factory that is not ready to follow the due process of production, because you are registered or enlisted with NAFDAC does not mean that as a state we will not follow up with your production process to ensure that due diligence is done to avert health issues that can affect the lives of people living in the state,” Oresanya noted.

According to him, the ministry would collaborate with NAFDAC, ministries of Health and Industry, Trade, and Investment to ensure compliance with the hygienic process of production while periodic on-the-spot assessments would be done to fish out the bad eggs among the producers.

Mr. Oresanya also stated that sanctions would be meted out to unscrupulous beings among the producers

Speaking on behalf of the producers, Mr Femi Olukoya and Lawan Shobiye assured of the association’s readiness to cooperate and support the state government in ensuring the health and lives of the people were optimally protected in line with the hygienic production process of producing table and sachet water as regulated by NAFDAC and other agencies.

They both stressed that the association would not hesitate to report any of its members who were not complying with regulated rules backing the production processes and putting the lives of the people in grave danger.