Estimated reading time: 6 minute(s)
Oluwatosin Ejalonibu
No fewer than 124 Ogun residents have been arrested and sentenced to community service for open defecation in Ogun state.
The Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Environment and the Chief Executive Officer of the Ogun State Waste Management Authority, Mr Ola Oresanya disclosed this .
Oresanya made this known while speaking to journalists in Abeokuta, the State capital on Thursday .
Oresanya said, the offenders were arrested and prosecuted for contravening the state’s environmental and health laws.
According to him, the offenders were arrested in various parts of the state with 82 of them arrested in Mowe-Ibafo axis in Obafemi-Owode local government area of the state.
Oresanya disclosed that the offenders were apprehended as parts of efforts aimed at ending open defecation and maintaining the environmental safety of the people.
His words, “this bad habit which are mostly done late in the night and at dawn have negative implications on the immediate communities where they are practised and the state at large especially during this period that the world is ravaged by pandemic.
“The Ogun state government will not fold its hands and watch few dirty individuals put the health of the majority at risk through their shameful act”.
OGWAMA boss reiterated that arrest of offenders will continue as the state has zero tolerance for open defecation.
He also warned drivers of articulated vehicles and their cohorts who transit the state, especially the Mowe-Ibafo axis to stop defecating on medians and roadsides while on stopovers.
He urged them to visit public toilets provided by the state government for their conveniences instead of engaging in such unwholesome practice.
The SA Environment also disclosed that the state has mandated all petrol stations and eateries in the state to make their conveniences available for public use as part of their corporate social responsibility.
He said, the state has identified over 100 locations for the construction of more public toilets through public-private partnership as part of government’s efforts at making the state open defecation free.
