Yusuf Oketola & Idris Idowu
Residents of Laoge Compound of Isale Osun area of Osogbo, capital of the State of Osun, have bemoaned what they called excessive dumping of refuse by traders in Oja-Oba, the Central Market within the metropolis, into the sewage linking the community with the market.
The residents said the practice has turned the area into a dumping site for other people living close to the community.
According to the residents, the community has been polluted due to the excessive refuse dumping by traders from the Central Market, stating that the situation had led to serious crises between some people in the area.
Speaking with OSUN DEFENDER on Tuesday, Mr. Bolarinwa Akintunde, a school proprietor in the community, said the indiscriminate dumping of refuse had been causing misunderstanding between him and members of the community.
Akintunde said: “I have been battling with this menace for over two years, since I moved my school here. Anytime there is rainfall, it usually comes with heavy wastes and garbage, which usually stop in this community. Every resident will try to push it away from his side to other people’s place, which has generated enmity between the people living here.
“But as a public figure, I always try to pack every waste that comes with the flood to avoid any form of instigation from any member of the public. Lots of people in this community have even tried to sabotage my efforts by saying that I am making use of my pupils to do the cleanings, which is not so.
“I do the cleanings alone with my staff. So, we are tired of this and we have on several occasions complained to the state Ministry of Environment to come to our aid, but nothing has changed”.
A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who lives in the community, Mrs. Sarat Ibikunle, stated that the refuse is being dumped in the drainage for erosion to carry it by traders in Oja-Oba (Central Market).
Ibikunle said: “The flood here always comes directly with huge refuses from Oja Oba, Oluawo Compound and Aweso Compound to this place, and it is affecting us all in this area. It is we people living in this area that use to come out and pack all the refuses to somewhere else, just for us to have a healthy environment.
“I have personally gone to market area to warn and fight them over this issue, but they are not cooperating. We are using this moment to call on the Ministry of Environment to come to our aid. We have been battling with this issue for a long period of time.
“When the rain starts now, you will see huge refuges in the drainage, hanging at different spots and both old and young ones will come out after the rain to clear wastes.”
However, the Iyaloja of Oja-Oba, Mrs. Wosilatu Kasali, in an interview with OSUN DEFENDER, said she is not aware of the issue, just as she denied that the traders were dumping refuses in the drainage.
Kasali said: ‘’Nobody from our market is throwing garbage into the drainage and if you look at it, it does not connect us together. But, what I will say is that, the community should be on alert, anybody they catch from this market dumping refuse in the drainage should be made to face the consequences “.
