BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Unless the residents of Ikirun, headquarters of Ifelodun Local Government Area of Osun State, desist from dumping refuse indiscriminately and defecating into Osere stream in the community, there could be an outbreak of cholera or any other waterborne disease.
Checks by The Point revealed that the state government would need to urgently rise to the occasion by imposing sanctions on erring residents, otherwise, the act of indiscipline may not be abated.
The Osere stream channel that cuts through the Ikirun township, has been converted to refuse dump site just as many residents of the community engage in open defecation.
The water channel had been clogged with effluents, thus making the environment to stink badly. Those who should know said that there was an impending danger as the rainy season approached.
Some people, speaking on condition of anonymity, alleged that traders at Oja-Oba market in Ikirun indulged in dumping of refuse into the water channel leading to blockage of free flow of water.
Our correspondent also learnt that both the state and local government’s environmental sanitation officers failed to carry out orientation on the hazard of indiscriminate refuse disposal and open defecation.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a resident of the community said that the stream, which hitherto was a source of getting seafood for their consumption, had become a refuse dump site.
The source claimed that those living at the bank of the water channel were also guilty as they dumped refuse into it indiscriminately.
He noted that few houses along the corridor had no functioning toilet facilities thereby leading to many of the people taking to the age-long practice of open defecation.
“This is what act of indiscipline has turned the Osere water channel in Ikirun to. People are unrelenting in making a mess of the once popular stream by turning its course into a refuse dump site.
“Our people that live at the embankment of the water channel have made the stream their preferred place, not only for refuse dump, but for open defecation.
“That is a fact known to the authorities. Only very few houses along that corridor have functioning toilet facilities of their own.
Occupants of most of the houses in the area take to the age long practice of open defecation and refuse dumping,” he noted.
Meanwhile, other residents of the area who spoke with The Point called for the government’s intervention in order to prevent outbreak of diseases in the community.
An international non-governmental organisation consulting with the United Nations since 1994, Clean-Up Nigeria, rated Borno, Osun and Kogi States as top three dirtiest in Nigeria with cleanliness performance index ratings of 12 per cent, 13 per cent and 14 per cent for Borno, Osun and Kogi respectively.
The rating was published in a report made public by the organisation at the presentation of the State of the Nigeria Environment Report 2021 in Abuja.
