No fewer than 25 persons are arrested daily in Ibadan, Oyo State, for indiscriminate waste disposal and other environment and sanitation offences.
Oyo Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr Abiodun Oni made this disclosure on Friday, at an event to commemorate the 2021 World Toilet Day.
Speaking at the event held within the state Secretariat, Oni bemoaned that despite day and night arrests, the state continues to be faced with unbelievable heaps of refuse on medians and roadsides.
He decried the penchant for people, both young and old, to fail to yield to appeals and continue to pack liter from their houses and offices to surreptitiously drop them in the middle of the road.
Oni said, “The more we are clearing dirt, it seems the more we are getting the place messed up. It seems people are dumping the dirt to task us that it is our responsibility to continue to pack the dirt.
“The kinds of heaps of refuse we see these days are unbelievable.
“I go round every night and we catch people. I ran into a woman three nights ago; she dropped liter and we had to arrest her. She said she is a widow and I told her that my mum is also a widow and won’t drop waste indiscriminately.
“It pained me that we had to apprehend her and take her to tribunal. I know her governor does not want that to happen to his people but we also have to help him to help us.
“We arrest 25, 25 people everybody.
“It pains me that we have old and young people who, despite our begging, are just insistent on dumping refuse in unauthorized places.”
He charged residents to support the government and play their own part by not defecating in open spaces, dumping refuse on medians, streets, streams, highways.
Oni, however, said the state government will not tolerate disgruntled elements destroying its efforts in ensuring a clean environment.
Various stakeholders at the event prayed that the people see the task of ensuring a clean environment as theirs and not solely that of government while also calling for the empowerment of environmental health officers for them to efficiently carry out duties without fear.
Market leaders at the event urged the government to provide toilets at markets and public spaces if rampant open defecation is to dwindle in the state.
In her remarks, Iyaloja of Oyo state, Chief Labake Lawal urged the government to arrest persons who have piled up debris in front of them.
A representative of the Arewa community, Aishat Lawal said there was the need for government to build toilets in the Sabo community to prevent recurrent outbreak of epidemics in the community.
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