Kwara state Ministry of Environment disclosed on Friday that an open dumpsite has been discovered in Ilorin, the state capital , which had been operated without consideration for environmental and health standards.
The open dumpsite was discovered near the General Tunde Idiagbon International Airport on Ilorin -Ogbomosho Road on Thursday.
Press Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Mr Yakub Kamaldeen Aliagan noted in a statement made available to Team@orientactualmags.com on Friday that a cop, Inspector Adamu Usman, who is attached to the Airport, has also been accused of aiding and abetting the illegal activity, and the ministry had since handed him over to the State Police Command.
The statement added that the state Commissioner for Environment, Hon. Nafisat Musa Buge, who led the enforcement team to the area, said they discovered the open dumpsite after putting the waste collectors on surveillance.
‘As you can see, we just discovered this illegal dumpsite that was created by some unidentified people. For instance, we found out that the majority of commercial waste collectors dump their refuse here. We have always warned them against mismanaging their waste, and we do let them know the penalty involved if any of them are caught.
Fortunately yesterday, we caught one of them. We traced him from the airport road down to this place at about 11 pm. That was how we discovered this massive illegal dumpsite.
This place is very dangerous. You can see that the dumpsite is located beside the airport and the Aviation College. A plane just took off now. This place does not meet up with the criteria for a dumpsite. We have an approved dumpsite around Oko Olowo Expressway, Sokoto Aiyekale precisely. But this place is dangerous for the airport and even the dwellers’ the statement quoted Buge to have submitted.
She also disclosed that the license of the erring waste collector has been revoked while he will also be made to pay a fine of N250,000.
The commissioner also said the ministry is not relenting on the efforts to stop indiscriminate refuse dump, adding that not less than 124 offenders have so far been prosecuted to serve as a deterrent.
‘Out of these 124, eight have been jailed. The offenses are majorly for indiscriminate dumping of refuse and illegal scavenging.
We are not relenting as the enforcement of environmental standards is still ongoing and will continue until people stop dumping refuse Indiscriminately. This is necessary because of the danger inherent in the bad habit.”
There has been a significant improvement in the way people now manage their waste since the Ministry started the enforcement exercise.
We have been able to achieve about 70 percent compliance within the few days we started. Majority of the streets where you always see debris on the road median and the other sides are no longer littered.
People now keep their waste and dump it anytime our vehicles are passing. A large number of them are already patronizing the commercial waste collectors whose details we released a few days ago for public patronage. So, there has been a significant improvement’ she said.
The commissioner was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Abubakar Ayinla; Secretary, State Environmental Protection Agency, Idayat Folohunsho; and the Chairman, Waste Disposal Association, Kwara state, Sakariya Tairu; among others-Team@orientactualmags.com Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com. Thank you
