Suspend Consumption Of Osun River, Stakeholders Tell Devotees, Others

 

Ismaeel Uthman

STAKEHOLDERS in Osun Grove and River have jointly called for the suspension of consumption of Osun river as herb till the issue of pollution is resolved. 

This is coming amidst the annual Osun Osogbo festival which kicked off on Monday, August 1 with its usual first activity, ‘Iwopopo’, the traditional cleansing of Osogbo. 

The festival is an annual event that is usually celebrated in August at the Osun sacred grove, to worship the goddess of fertility. 

The festival is usually attended by tourists from all over the world, as well as Osun worshippers.

Other events for the festival include the lighting of the 500-year-old ‘Atupa oloju merindinlogun’ which was done yesterday, and ‘Bibo Ade Oba Osogbo’ (honouring past kings of Osogbo) which will hold on Monday August 8, 2022.

Also, on Thursday, August 11, there will be ‘Dida Ifa arugba’, where a young virgin woman (arugba) of a royal lineage, offers sacrifices to the deity. 

The festival will climax on Friday, August 12.

During the celebration, some devotees, tourists and other people usually consume the Osun River, either by drinking or using it to bath.

The Osun river has for over three years been polluted by mining activities in Ijesaland.

Worried by the pollution, stakeholders, in a communique issued at the end of a ‘Mini Stakeholders Meeting’ held at the Mukadam area of Osun Sacred Grove on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, recommended that, “consumption of Osun river as Agbo should be suspended for a while till the issue of pollution is resolved.”

The stakeholders acknowledged the significant change of colour of the river.

The team lead of a non-governmental organisation, Urban Alert, Mr. Anthony Adejuwon, who attended the meeting confirmed the communique to OSUN DEFENDER yesterday. 

Urban Alert has over the years been calling for the clean-up of the contaminated 213km Osun River. 

The organisation has been making frantic efforts to seek the commitment of stakeholders to get the river back to its normal self.

According to Urban Alert, the harmful contamination of the river, due to mining activities, has put over 2m people living in more than 20 communities of Osun State in danger, due to the importance of the river which serves as source of water for cultural, domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes.