Ogun state sentences 124 open defecation offenders

The Ogun State Government has sentenced a total of 124 offenders for open defecation, which contravenes the state’s environmental and health laws.

The suspects were arrested by the task force in different locations across the state, with eighty-two from Mowe-Ibafo, in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of the state.

According to the Governor’s Special Adviser on Environment and Chief Executive Officer of the Ogun State Waste Management Authority, Ola Oresanya, all the offenders were sentenced to community service.

In a statement on Thursday, the Information Officer in the Ministry of Environment, Rotimi Oduniyi, quoted Oresanya as saying the offenders were apprehended as part of efforts to stop open defecation and maintain the environmental safety of residents.

He said, “The bad habit, which is mostly done late in the night and at dawn, has negative implications on the immediate communities where they are practised and the state at large, especially during this period when the world is ravaged by a pandemic.”

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While insisting that the arrest of offenders would continue, Oresanya warned drivers of articulated vehicles, who transited the state, especially the Mowe-Ibafo axis, to stop defecating on medians and roadsides while making stopovers.

He urged them to visit public toilets provided by the state government instead of engaging in “such an ignominious practice.”