PETER DADA writes that major roads in Akure, the Ondo State capital, have been turned into dumpsites with no attention paid to them by relevant authorities despite the health implications
With the way things look currently, the saying “cleanliness is next to godliness” seems not to be reckoned with in Akure, the Ondo State capital, following the filthy appearance of the major roads in the capital city, which have almost been taken over by heaps of refuse.
In the recent past, one could recall that Akure was adjudged one of the neatest state capitals in the country, but one begins to wonder why the sudden change of things in the environmental issues of the ancient community. Heaps of refuse dumped indiscriminately along the major roads and streets of the town, have become an eyesore and are begging for the attention of the major stakeholders.
The popular roads in the capital city, such as Ilesa Road, Oyemekun Road, Oba Adesida Road, Arakale Road, and Ondo Road, among others, are all littered with refuse, indicating an imminent and possible outbreak of disease unless there is an urgent proactive step from the concerned authorities.
The Oja Oba (central market) area, which is central to Akure town and a few metres away from the palace of the paramount ruler of the Akure Kingdom, Oba Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi, is worst hit by the ugly development as the place has been turned into a major dumpsite.
The traders, who are oblivious to the menace associated with improper waste disposal, always display their wares and items and carry out their business activities without being irritated or conscious of their filthy surroundings.
Besides this, all the road medians and sides have been turned into dumpsites, and whenever the wind blows, it scatters the refuse to the left, right, and centre of the roads. It could also be observed that the situation got worse recently when rain fell and eroded some of the litres into the drainages and blocked the waterways.
A shop owner, Mrs Eunice Uche, expressed bitterness over the development as she complained that one of the illegal ‘dumpsites” was directly situated in front of her shop, noting that she had been trading in the shop for over two decades. She also lamented that oftentimes she got irritated whenever she wanted to open her shop in the morning and sighted mountains of refuse. She said she had complained to the relevant government agency, but nothing was being done about her predicament.
She said, “I have been selling in this shop for over 20 years, but what is happening in recent times is sad. Refuse everywhere in the market, in front of my shop, people dump refuse, and I don’t know what to do again. I have gone to the ministry of the environment and the waste management office, and they promised to find a solution to it.
“At times, they do come and pack it, but by the time I come to shop the following morning, another one would have been dumped there, and in the next week, the waste people would not come again. Sometimes I would not open the shop because of the odour coming from the refuse, and this was really affecting my business. The government should help us find a lasting solution to this problem; they should not let refuse kill us.”
In the same vein, a resident of the town and environmentalist, Mr Agboola Lawal, decried the environmental situation of the capital town as it concerned the indiscriminate dumping of waste. He said there was a need for urgent action to be taken by the government to clean up the roads and streets.
“Waste disposal is one of the social services performed by the government, and the government’s failure to carry out such functions can lead to an epidemic. I personally have been wondering what the agencies of government that are responsible for environmental sanitation are doing. When I drive along Oyemekun Road, I just ask myself if the government has a waste management agency because it is their duty to pack the waste off the streets.
“The implication of this problem, in the long run, may be expensively grievous for the government and the people of the town because improper waste disposal and management may lead to outbreaks of diseases, particularly cholera. We all know the implications of a cholera outbreak; it does not know the rich or the poor. So the government should wake up to its responsibility and make the environment clean. They should also step up their efforts on the sensitisation of the people in the media on the need for them to live in a clean and healthy environment.”
It was gathered that the problem was not unconnected with the indebtedness of the state government to the contractors and the private waste collectors, to whom the government had given the contracts to manage the waste.
One of the private waste managers, on condition of anonymity, hinted to our correspondent that the government allegedly owed the contractors, hence the irregularity of their services and the fact that some of them had pulled out of the business.
He stated, “The government is owing the contractors, but I think part of the money has been paid recently. So we are gradually packing the refuse now. If you see our men stop working, the reason must be the issue of money with the government. Some collectors deliberately suspend their services whenever they are not owned.
“The resultant effect of that is that the people who live on the streets are taking their refuse to the main roads because they can’t keep their waste at home. That is why you see refuse everywhere on the major roads. So it is left for the government to take the issue of waste management seriously.”
However, the state Commissioner for Environment, Mr Sunday Akinwalire, admitted the existence of challenges in the environmental sector of the state, saying the government was making efforts to resolve the matter.
He stated, “For now, we have to agree that there are issues on the ground. Mr Governor has taken the bull by the horns by setting up a committee to look into the waste management system of Ondo State. The committee will be rounding up its activities any moment, and you will agree with me that the skyrocketing price of petrol and diesel most especially affected the system.”
He added, “While we had that plan that year, diesel was N200 per litre but just before the first quarter of the year, the price skyrocketed to about N800 or N900. It is true that we have contractors helping us handle waste management; the companies are doing their best, but now, the ignoble policy of the Central Bank has added problems to those we are already facing. Generally, by the end of this month, we would have been done with the committee work because the governor is highly interested and we had budgetary allocation already.
“It is not only the contractor that is handling the waste; we have other PSPs (Private Support Partners). The PSPs are private organisations that join hands with the government to manage all our waste systems. Those people handle waste in the interiors. Ours is to take care of public waste, and we are doing something about the public waste; it’s a complete re-engineering of the system as a whole.”
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