PEOPLE doing businesses at Agbeni,Foko, Gege and Itamaya area of Ibadan, Oyo State capital, have vowed to deal with anybody caught throwing garbage inside the gutter or on the roads near the markets.They also told Community News that they would use everything at their disposal to prevent and discourage traders and residents of the area from causing environmental problems, which they said, might lead to flood and an outbreak of diseases in the community.Following a downpour, Community News observed that drainage at Agbeni market became filled with refuse, while major roads at Gege and Itamaya areas of the city were taken over by filth.Around Gege area of the city, Community News discovered that free flow of water in some streams hindered by refuse believed to have been thrown into the streams by traders and residents of the area doing this weeks rainfall.A trader a Gege, who simply identified herself as Bilikisu, said, it is the usual habit of some people in the community to empty their wastebins on major streets, inside drainage, as well as inside streams anytime there was downpour.According to her, there is the need for government to recruit more sanitary inspectors and environmental officers, who should move round the community, while some should be stationed in major markets in the area in order to curb the activities of people who often take delight in throwing garbage on the road and inside drainage.At Agbeni market, major roads within the market were full of offensive odour due to refuse stockpiled beside the roads by traders operating in the market.Asked to comment on the unhygienic practices of the traders, a patent medicine dealer, Mr Chubuzor Emmanuel, told Community News that if the market communities, wear a neat look, the state government should supply enough refuse drums for the traders.A fruit juice seller in the market, Catherine Ekene, said that there was no place for the traders to empty their filth, stressing that what the market needed was not only waste bins, but environmental officers that would check the unhygienic practices and attitude of the people doing businesses in the market.At Itamaya, the complaint of the residents was that most of the drainage in the community had been blocked by refuse. The people of the area further told Community News that what could solve the environmental pollution of the area was for the state government to mandate every house owner in the community to have waste bins or drums in their houses, otherwise the problem would persist.
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