By 
By Kayode Abdulazeez
Residents of Tanke/Tipper garage community in Ilorin South Local Government Area of Kwara state have expressed displeasure over the indiscriminate dumping of refuse on corner spot of the overhead bridge being constructed by the state government.
They lamented that the unchecked behaviour posed a serious threat to their health, and belittle Ilorin as a state capital.
Speaking with the Accurate News, Abdulmalik Ahmed, a resident in the area, however, blamed the situation on unavailability of roro bins in the area.
“I noticed that people resorted to dumping of refuse on this particular spot of the project site as a result of failure of the government to locate a dustbin in the area.
“Although, evacuators always come around on daily basis to evacuate whatever they dump. If not, this area would not have been habitable for the residents, going by the large volume of waste that are dropped here every day,” he said.
Another resident, Mr Rufus Adekeye, who is an owner of a patient medicine store in the area, said “people always drop refuse here, and in the morning, the collector would come and evacuate it. However, what we need is proactive measures.
“All these beggars around here should be moved to a place where they can safely settle. Government should provide a bin around here for the people to dump refuse because as the construction is going on, there is nothing anybody can say to stop those dumping the garbage”
Mr Adekeye, who acknowledged the efforts of the evacuator of the garbage for doing a good job, however, urged the government to as a matter of urgency brings bins to the area and cautions the residents not to attempt to burn the refuse.
Reacting, a state commissioner of Environment, Remilekun Bamigbe, frowned at the action, saying the ministry would reassess the environmental situation in the area.
“There was a bin at the area before. We have to remove it when the work commenced on Gen. Tunde Idiagbon bridge, with an agreement with the people in the area that waste evacuation trucks will be visiting to collect their waste on daily basis. We warned them against indiscriminate dumping of refuse,” said the commissioner.
She stated, however, that the state had more than four waste evacuation trucks under the Social Management Team, in which the government were paying, apart from the numerous commercial waste collectors.
“We urge our people to take responsibility and part with a token by patronising commercial waste collectors in areas where government collectors are not assigned to.
She noted that the state had commenced advocacy and enforcement, and whoever is caught dumping refuse indiscriminately would be apprehended and face the law.
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