The Ondo State government has threatened to close down Odopetu Market indefinitely if traders in the market failed to cooperate with the officials of the state Waste Management Authority to ensure prompt evacuation of heaps of refuse around the market.
Roving Reporters had on Tuesday reported that heaps of waste at the Odopetu Market could lead to an epidemic as traders displayed their goods close to the refuse.
In a swift response, the Chairman of the Ondo State Waste Management Authority, Mrs Olayinka Alabi on Thursday led other management and workers of the authority to the market to ensure evacuation for the safety of the people in the state capital.
Alabi lamented the lackadaisical attitudes of the market women towards ensuring a clean environment, saying that no trader would be allowed to transact in the market until the waste was evacuated.
She said, “After we received the report, we got here and saw that it was actually an health risk. So it calls for emergency.
“Unfortunately, the one they have inside is such that we couldn’t access it. So we’ve designed ways and means to make sure that we get the waste out, the refuse out.
“I have reached out to them since yesterday that this morning because today falls on the market sanitation day, which we observe every Thursday. So this morning we have told them to make arrangements so that we could come with our vehicles to move the refuse away.
“So on getting here, they said they have a court injunction on the land that nobody could go in there. But we told them that this is an emergency, this is an health risk, it calls for emergency.
“So there’s nothing anybody could do about that, that we have to move it. We are not taking the land away. All we are trying to do is to make sure that we don’t have an issue of epidemic on our hands.
“We have no choice. We have to do the work today and we have to move the refuse. So I’ve spoken with the traditional ruler too and he said whatever we are doing here is for the benefit of everyone. So because of that, he has agreed with us. So we are working together as a team now to make sure that we move those refuse today.
“After the evacuation, I’ve told the Kabiesi that they need to go and report. They should make their agitation known to government so concerning the land, so that this kind of thing doesn’t repeat itself.”
As at the time of filing the reports efforts were being made by government officials and the market women to begin evacuation of the refuse.
