Residents of Ogun State have pleaded with the Ogun State Ministry of Environment to urgently direct the state environmental marshals to return to the roads, streets and markets as the environmental situations in different communities in the state had degenerated to very deplorable conditions since the officers were not seen in recent times to ensure environmental compliance by the people.
While lamenting on the development, an Ota community leader, Alhaji (Chief) Olawale Idris, expressed his worries that the environmental marshals had not been seen again in the communities as people now lawlessly drop refuse on the roads and in the markets.
He noted that people resorted to this act of indiscipline on their discovery that the environmental marshals were no longer in their neighbourhood to ensure environmental compliance by the people.
A market leader in Itoku market, Abeokuta, Alhaja Saidat Owoduni, in her own remarks, said that with the environmental marshals no longer patrolling the markets and the various communities nowadays, residents now willingly abused the environment with their indiscriminate dumping of refuse on the roads.
To Mrs Yemisi Awoyelu, a senior staff nurse in one of the private clinics in Sagamu, dumping of refuse on the road median and drainages had become the order of the day since the environmental marshals were no longer seen in the communities by the people.
” The environmental marshals were saddled with the responsibility of not only ensuring the implementation of the environmental law, but also the improvement of the environmental compliance by residents and now that they are not around in our neighbourhood for some days now, refuse has taken over every nook and cranny of our communities.
” We are begging the Ministry of Environment to once again send the environmental marshals to our communities before people start dieing of epidemics and other diseases as a result of refuse that are indiscriminately dumped on our street, roads, markets, drainages and other places”, said Mrs Awoyelu
According to an Ijebu – Ode based Cleric, Elder Amos Akinsanmi, the Ministry of Environment should please send the environmental marshals to the roads, streets and markets, considering their role in ensuring a safe and healthy environment in the state.
Elder Akinsanmi,who lauded the achievements of the Ministry of Environment in guaranteeing a healthy environment among the citizenry, however, urged that particular consideration should be given to the return of the environmental marshals in the neighbourhood.
He, therefore, appealed to the Ogun State Ministry of Environment to send the environmental marshals to the various communities and safe the people from refuse now littering every corner of their abode.
