Refuse take over streets in Ado Ekiti

Major streets in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State have been littered with human wastes generated during the long break to celebrate Eid-el Maulud and the Yuletide, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.


NAN reports that residents of the state and their visitors had littered markets, recreation centres, motor parks, drinking and relaxation joints as well as roads with wastes during the festive period.

Most affected places are the roads leading to Oja Bisi (Bisi Market), near Ogbon Oba and Oja’ba (the King’s Market) near Okeyinmi, the two major markets in the city.

Some of these places had yet to be tidied up, as refuse, waste bags, empty cartons, buckets and other containers still dotted them.

Also littered with human wastes were the roads leading to the new and old motor parks, popularly called Old Garage.

NAN observed that a big refuse container stationed by the State Government along Oja’ba Road had been filled to the brim.

NAN also noticed that the refuse contents that had spilled over the container onto the ground were enough to fill another big container.

This development caused rowdiness on Tuesday around the market as buyers and sellers there had to block a section of it.

This affected both human and vehicular movements.

NAN, however, observed that the Waste Management Board under the state Ministry of Environment had been making some efforts to clear the backlog of refuse from the city.

The Commissioner for the Environment, Chief Bisi Kolawole, confirmed the development.

Kolawole attributed the high tonnage of wastes generated during the period to the influx of people that visited the city then.

He said officials of the ministry had to work during the long break, adding that the ministry was also redoubling its efforts to ensure that everything returns to normal by January.

Kolawole said the ministry was deploying some of its trucks meant for refuse collection in parts of the city to clear the refuse.

The commissioner, however, enjoined residents of the city to be more polite and orderly in the ways and manners they used to dump their refuse.

Through that, they would always maintain a clean environment, he said.