Oyo State Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, on Wednesday, prosecuted no fewer than thirty one persons found culpable of violating environmental laws of the State before a Magistrate court sitting in Ibadan, the state capital.
Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Kehinde Ayoola made this declaration after an Environmental sanitation exercise, led by the State governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde at Ojoo interchange, Akinyele local government area of the state.
Ayoola revealed that the violators were arrested by officers of the Ministry at different locations in Ibadan for indiscriminate dumping of refuse at unauthorized places within Ibadan metropolis and were arraigned before a Magistrate for committing punishable offences which were contrary to the Environmental Laws of the State.
He said that the Magistrate ruled that the offenders be imprisoned for six months or pay a fine of N12,500 each, out of which twenty-one of the offenders fulfilled their bail terms, while ten persons who failed to meet the terms were forced to do community services.
Ayoola buttressed that the arraignment was a further proof of Oyo State government’s determination to end menace caused by unlawful disposal of refuse.
He said, “When we said we would fight this menace to a stop, and put saboteurs to a halt, we meant business, this is why the State Government, under the leadership of His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde has deployed its whole apparatus to enforce the law on environmental sanitation in the State.
“We believe this will serve as deterrent to other violators of the State Environmental Laws that it will not be business as usual, we have to change our orientation as regards good environment for the sake of ourselves and our neighbors.
“Governor Seyi Makinde is so passionate about the cleanliness of our environment, this is why our officers would not hesitate to clampdown on all violators of environmental laws.”
He urged members of the public to desist from unlawful disposal of refuse, saying that the State Government had deployed its officers in strategic places in the State to apprehend offenders.
