A deadly wave of industrial accidents has hit Rongtai Building Materials Nigeria Limited in the Utesi community, Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State. No fewer than five factory workers have lost their lives at the facility over the past four weeks alone.
This was disclosed during a visit by the Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo. During the visit, it was learnt that some of the workers died from electrocution, while others fell from a crane.
The turn of event eventually led to a violent protest by workers and some community youths.
Governor Monday Okpebholo, during his visit, urged the company’s management to ensure proper safety measures are taken to protect the lives of its staff and workers.
“What happened here came to me as sad news, and the incident is condemnable. An establishment of this nature should not be attacked like this. The protest was triggered by anger over the death of a young man who was a staff member of this company. Our culture values life and prosperity, and I advise you to ensure the safety of your staff. Security and safety measures should be put in place. If you had a clinic here, what happened would not have happened,” he said.
Okpebholo expressed his satisfaction in the company’s move to build a clinic, urging them to fix the bad road to discourage hoodlums from attacking vehicles coming into the company.
“Your organisation should carry out its corporate social responsibility. There should be a good road within the premises where you carry out your business. For the sake of corporate social responsibility (CSR), just fix the bad road to discourage hoodlums from attacking vehicles coming into your company. Criminals take advantage of bad roads to cause havoc. As a government, we are sorry for the loss of lives and property. I am glad that you have over 8,000 workers here, and I believe you will employ more,” he added.
