No fewer than 500 factory workers, suppliers and residents living around battery-recycling plants in the Ogijo area of Ogun State are set to undergo tests for possible lead poisoning.The state government announced that the test — which will be free for all participants — follows a November 18, 2025 report by The New York Times, which alleged widespread lead contamination linked to recycling factories operating in the community.
During an appearance on TV Continental’s flagship programme Your View on Monday, the Ogun State Commissioner for Environment, Ola Oresanya, said that the government intends to expand the scope of testing far beyond what the newspaper reported.
For the lead issue, we conducted an investigation and discovered soil contamination. We gave the operators a moratorium that ended in June this year.
Everyone signed an agreement to complete the installation of pollution-abatement devices — specifically, the automation of battery-breaking processes — by that deadline,” he said.
Oresanya explained that the government was still validating reports submitted by the factories and plans to convene a community meeting to review the findings before enforcing any final clampdown.
“We need to confirm the alleged lead poisoning. What they did was take 70 samples out of more than 11,000 people living in Ogijo.
“As much as we’re not denying or discrediting the report, we want to widen the test.
We’re going to test about 500 people, including factory workers, residents living close to the industries and even their suppliers. We met with them on Saturday,” he said.
