By George George Idowu
Oyo State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Abdulmojeed Mogbonjubola has disclosed that 19 offenders have been arrested in various areas of the state over environmental offences.
He made this known on Saturday, during the 2024 maiden monitoring exercise by the Ministry of Environment and Sanitation Special Task Force.
He said that from henceforth, environmental offenders will be heavily penalised as they have done a lot of damage to the communities and the state at large.
“It is a big offence to drop refuse on road medians. People are creating a lot of bad spots for us, and it has been a terrible headache, especially throughout the festive period. We won’t take this again.
“The rule of law in Oyo State would no longer tolerate arbitrary refuse dumping in all nooks and crannies” he added.
He explained that the penalty attached to any offenders caught will be a fine of 110,000 or a month community service.
Mr Mogbonjubola further revealed that the Ministry’s environmental task force will now embark on weekly exercises.
He said the environmental task force will be stationed at strategic areas to reduce indiscriminate dumping of refuse across the state, adding that the fine will be fully enforced.