Abuja – Prof. Benjamin Adewuyi, the President, Nigeria Metallurgical Society has called on the Federal Government to enact adequate law to safeguard the lives of steel operators and the environment.
Adewuyi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja that there was no law currently made to protect their daily operations and the people living around the industry.
He explained that gases emitting from the steel industry were poisonous, hazardous and could caused lots of sicknesses, adding that the fumes from the industry contained carbon-monoxide.
“Our metallurgical bill is still awaiting Mr President assent; government must give urgent attention to the bill because we have metallurgical plants that are in operations.
“Operators’ and people’s lives around the steel industries locality must be protected; operators are exposed to hazardous chemical because they are working in high temperature vicinity that exposed them to dangerous radiation,’’ Adewuyi said.
According to him, the health hazard posed by steel industries must not be neglected, even if the steel company is small.
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`The quantity of gas that is coming out of the industry must be controlled; when metals are produced, some of them turned into gases and solidify into the atmosphere.
“Industrialised countries control their gases from all materials before releasing into the atmosphere; that is why we need urgent law to control gases coming out of our small steel plants.’’
Adewuyi also called for Emergency Shower for steel operators, to help reduced effect of dangerous chemicals during steel operations, adding that such measures existed in other parts of the world.
He also tasked the small steel industries operating in Nigeria to treat their cooling metal water used during production before releasing into the atmosphere to avoid effluent discharge. (NAN)
