Community Accuses Osun Mall Of Environmental Pollution

 

Yusuf Oketola & Kazeem Badmus

RESIDENTS of Ibu-Amo Community in Osogbo, capital of the State of Osun, have accused the management of Osun Mall of polluting their environment as a result of the waste and erosion coming from the mall during rainy periods.

OSUN DEFENDER on Wednesday visited the affected community and spoke with some of the residents.

In an interview with the Secretary of the Community Association, Mr. Moses Badmus, the pollution started two years ago and they have logged series of complaints to the management of the Mall, saying that nothing had been done to address the situation.

Badmus said: “The crisis started two years ago when we began to experience erosion and waste coming out of the Osun Mall which has been polluting our environment.

“We were not experiencing this when Fakunle Comprehensive High School was still at the same location now occupied by Osun Mall. The management of the school then made sewage to channel the water to the Osun River which is close to this area.

“When Osun Mall came into being, we met with the management and had understanding that they should also make sewage to channel the water to the river to avoid erosion coming to our community.

“The sewage constructed by Fakunle Comprehensive High School had been blocked in the course of constructing the Mall. They have refused to replace the sewage till date. Now, all the water and waste coming from the mall are directly coming into our community.

“We have approached them on three different occasions to finding a lasting solution to it. But when they did not turn up, we contacted our lawyer who wrote a letter to the Justrite Headquarters in Iju-Ota, but they said they cannot attend to us.

“We are directed to meet with Omoluabi Investment Company, which is charge of the property to register our complaints.

“However, we have also gone to the State of Osun Ministry of Environment and their officials came to tell Osun Mall to make sewage but they did not turn up still. The water has damaged all our roads. It has even turned from erosion to a storm when it’s raining now, you cannot walk or pass through the street due to the heavy torrents of water coming out of the mall.”

Badmus called on the State Government of Osun to come to their aid by helping them to construct drainages across the community, since the management of Osun Mall has refused to do the needful.

Reacting, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Environment and Sanitation, Mr. Rufus Oyegbile, said there have never been official complaints on the said erosion, even as he promised to take drastic steps on it.

Oyegbile said: “As far as our ministry is concerned, especially my own department which deals with erosion and flood control, we have never had an official letter from any of the residents complaining about erosion or flood water around Osun Mall.

“I will say it is the responsibility of those who engaged themselves or the owner of the Osun Mall to make sure there is proper drainage and channelisation because the drainage was there before and there was no complaint from the members of the community then.

“So, I want to see what happened but we will not wait for the paper to come.  I will raise it at the executive meeting. Very soon, we will deploy our men to the area to discuss on the issue between the management of the mall and leadership of the community.