Peak Milk, Coca-Cola, Guinness Factories Sealed Off Over Regulatory Infractions

By Mohammed Adekola

Lagos State Government has sealed the facilities of three major companies Nigerian Bottling Company (producers of Coca-Cola), FrieslandCampina (makers of Peak Milk), and Guinness Nigeria Plc for extracting large quantities of groundwater without proper authorisation.

Director of Technical Services at LASWARCO, Mr.

Babatunde revealed that LASWARCO had been engaging with these companies for over seven years to ensure compliance with water abstraction regulations, but these efforts had largely been unsuccessful.

“We operate a law that empowers us to regulate most of these heavy abstractors in Lagos State.

Abstractors are individuals or entities that extract large quantities of groundwater for commercial purposes.

“So, these companies that we have sealed, basically three of them – Coca-Cola, FreislandCampina and Guinness, abstract water in large quantities.

“And we have been engaging them over time. At least, I have been here for more than seven years now. We’ve been engaging these companies for more than seven years now.

“Some, either they do partial compliance, or some don’t comply at all. So, now that we started implementation of our regulation, we now compel them to fulfill all their regulatory demands,” he said.

The move highlights the commission’s resolve to enforce compliance and address the environmental risks posed by unregulated groundwater abstraction.