Oyo Gov Calls For Urgent Action on Environmental Sanitation

By Olusakin Babalola, Ibadan

The Oyo State governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde has frowned on the poor approach to environmental sanitation in Ibadan metropolis, appealing to residents of the state to properly dispose their waste.

He maintained that he had directed the agencies in charge to ensure strict compliance with environmental sanitation measures, stating that his government will not hesitate to invoke the full arm of extant laws against any erring person or groups of people on the issue of environmental sanitation.

Governor Makinde stated these in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Taiwo Adisa, saying: “The state of environmental sanitation and waste disposal within the state capital is disturbing, and should give all the people a major concern as health is wealth.”

The governor added that the indiscriminate dumping of refuse on the medians of major roads of the state capital had become worrisome and should be of concern to everybody that “cares about the hygiene of the people and the sanitation of the environment. This unwholesome act could constitute health hazard to the teeming populace of the city,” he said.

He maintained that the government had started evacuating the existing waste along the road medians and other wrong places, warning that the old ways of dumping refuse along the highways and other unapproved places must stop immediately.

Governor Makinde observed that indiscriminate refuse disposal is a major cause of flooding, building collapse and other devastating disasters, adding that a veritable means of preventing the occurrence of such disasters “is to desist from this obnoxious act.”

He, therefore, warned residents to make use of refuse collection drums and/or register with refuse collectors assigned to their areas.