The Ogun State Government says it has declared zero-tolerance for improper waste disposal across the state in order to maintain a clean and hygienic environment at all time.
Commissioner for Environment, Bolaji Oyeleye, who stated this recently in Abeokuta, the state capital, lamented that people still dumped refuse on road median and drainages despite government’s recent campaign against indiscriminate dumping of refuse on the roads.
Oyeleye emphasised that the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration would no longer tolerate dumping of waste on road median and drainages, unkept market places, and displaying of wares on government’s road setbacks.
He maintained that government had invested a huge amount of money on the construction of road infrastructure, adding that it was unfair for residents of the state to deface these infrastructures with filth.
The Commissioner said that recently government was forced to shut down markets in Sango-Ota, Mowe and Ibafo areas of the state due to uncleanliness, saying such measure would be meted out on other parts of the state in due course if they fail to comply with the government directives.
“You see, some people are still in the habit of dumping refuse in the median of our newly constructed roads in the state, despite our daily inspection and warning but they continue to deface it with filth. But the government will resist it by closing down their markets for operation,” Oyeleye said.
Oyeleye explained that the present administration’s zero-tolerance to filth would be beneficial to the well-being of the entire citizenry and socio-economic growth of the state, adding that the Ministry of Environment would scale up the monitoring exercise across the state.
Meanwhile, Special Adviser to the Governor on Environment, Lanre Edun, has charged the people of the state to align with government’s policy on environmental sanitation.
Edun added that since cleanliness is next to godliness, the people of the state should endeavour to make environmental sanitation a daily affair, adding that it would prevent them from sanitation-related diseases.
“Please, let us imbibe the habit of cleaning of our surroundings as we all know that no organism can survive without a clean and conducive environment; so let’s continue to clean our environment to be free from sanitation related disease,” Edun opined.
