...[A] consignment made up of lead - which causes mental retardation in children and malformation of genes - [has] vanished from sites in Oyo State...The wastes...had been allegedly dumped by a company known as West African Batteries Ltd - makers of Exide batteries. The firm operated in Oyo State for decades while its parent company was in the United Kingdom. The company manufactured car batteries, which were very popular all over the country and other West African countries...Some residents in the communities said that the waste scavengers even mentioned the idea of exporting the wastes, which they claimed were 'solid minerals'.