Oyo govt flays indiscriminate waste disposal, urges employment of registered collectors

By Bisola Adeyemo

Oyo state government has urged the residents to shun the habit of dumping their waste on roadsides, canals, and streams instead of employing registered waste collectors.

The Director of Environmental Services, Oyo State Ministry of Environment, Mr. Niyi Onifade, made the urge on Thursday, during an environmental sanitation exercise organized by the Rotary Club of Ibadan City Central in Ibadan.

Onifade said that indiscriminate disposal of waste portends grave danger to the health of residents as it could lead to the outbreak of diseases in the state.

“I want to tell you that the activities of the waste contractors have not been welcome as people refuse to patronize them.

“There has been a low level of patronage and when people are not patronizing them, people end up dumping their refuse in rivers, roadsides among others.

“If refuse is not properly disposed it can lead to the outbreak of diseases like cholera, typhoid and we don’t want that in the state,” he said.

He therefore encouraged general public in the state to employ the services of the registered waste collectors, noting that only these categories of people could access the four dumping sites approved by the government.