The ongoing open defecation on the renovated drainage system has been bemoaned by locals and walkers along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
According to PUNCH Metro, the practice has spread widely as petty offenders covered the road median in dog poop, forcing pedestrians crossing the freeway to shield their noses.
The midway between Kara, Warewa, and Mowe in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State and Berger in Lagos State had turned into regular defecation sites, according to our correspondent who was monitoring the sanitary conditions on the highway on Wednesday.
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However, locals and pedestrians have expressed concern that the overpowering scents emanating from them pose a risk to personal hygiene.
“Aside from the embarrassing outlook of the median, the faeces pose a serious health risk to us the residents and the government needs to act now,” resident Tunde Adewale stated in an interview with PUNCH Metro on Wednesday. This has been going on for a while, and despite our repeated concerns, nothing is being done to stop these guys from ruining the facility. We are taking a chance on illnesses like dysentery and cholera. We can’t act as though we are unaware of the risks involved in letting this go unchecked.
Our correspondent saw two distinct public restrooms on Wednesday at the OPIC and Arepo ends of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, despite initial concerns on the lack of restrooms along the route.
“The toilet has always been in operation and we charge just N100 for bathing and N100 for the use of the toilet,” stated one of the attendants, who went by the name Akin. While some of them use this facility, others choose to urinate in the space between the medians. Although we are aware that a toilet has been provided for them, we have attempted to stop them, but they are uncooperative. We occasionally even shoot people who we see defecating there with catapults.
Olayiwola Ogunsolu, one of the public restroom supervisors, stated: “Open defecation may persist until the government begins to arrest people who engage in it. There isn’t another option. Despite our repeated best efforts to stop it, some of them believed we were doing it to gain their favor. We left them for that reason. They will come to realize that the fine is far more than the reasonable fee they charge for using a public restroom if they are caught and forced to pay a fine of about N5,000.
Ola Oresanya, Ogun State’s Commissioner for Environment, declared that the state government would bolster enforcement to guarantee that the offenders were brought to justice.
“I am not happy with what I saw there,” he uttered. I can promise you that we will be stepping up enforcement in the coming days to make up for the lapse in enforcement in that area. We will pay for the permanent stationing of personnel there. Before fleeing, people must observe efficient law enforcement.