No fewer than 40 residents of Osogbo, Osun State,
including a police officer, were on Tuesday morning apprehended by officials of
the state Waste Management Agency for allegedly dumping waste on the roads in
the state capital.
Those arrested, apart from the police officer,
included children, traders and nursing mothers.
The offenders were said to have been arrested by
operatives of Osun State Waste Management Agency (OWMA).
OWMA officials had yesterday gone round the capital
city in their truck, picking up residents caught dropping refuse on the road.
It was gathered that the nabbed offenders, who
were loaded in the agency’s truck, were brought to the OWMA office in Osogbo.
The offenders, according to sources who visited
OWMA office, are: Mr. Adebisoye, who identified himself as a police officer;
Afsoh Abdulsalam, Abdulsalam Aminat, Adeola Oladeto, Temilade AbduAzeez ,
Kehinde Abass among others.
Confirming the arrest, the acting General Manager
of OWMA, Sanitarian Femi Ogunbamiwo, said the erring residents were arrested
for flouting environmental laws.
Ogunbamiwo said residents of the town had been
warned against dumping waste on road sides and river channels as well as unapproved
sites but some of them had remained adamant.
He further explained that those arrested would be
charged to court.
Warning residents of the state against violating
the state environmental sanitation law, Ogunbamiwo said the state government
enacted the laws to ensure good health and wellbeing of the people.
He said official of OWMA had earlier held a meeting
with stakeholders, market men and men, security operatives, journalists, local
government and LCDA officials, administrative office representatives among
others on how to develop a blueprint for the implementation of environmental
sanitation in the state.
Ogunbamiwo, therefore, urged the residents of the
state to desist from indiscriminate dumping of refuse so as to keep the state
safe from epidemics.
One of the offenders, Mrs. Afusatu Abdulsalam, who
felt remorseful, begged the agency to pardon them, saying, they regretted their
action.
Abdulsalam, who resides at number 4, Agowande Street
in Osogbo, said for over a month, the official of OWMA hadn’t come to clear
their refuse, and having waited endlessly, she resorted in dumping her refuse
on the roads.
She said though she knew she had violated
environmental laws of the state, she begged for leniency, promising not to
perpetrate the act again.
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