There was confusion in Ikorodu during the environmental exercise that took place on Saturday, July 30, 2016 at Aga area, Anibaba, Ota-Ona and other link roads as residents blocked the roads with heavy refuse for more than three hours causing traffic hold-up around Ikorodu town.
The residents, in an interview with Oriwu Sun, complained bitterly that the PSP operators were indifferent to the growing heaps of refuse in their area, while at the same time giving preference to some houses without collecting their own refuse for days.
However, the situation would have been worsened but for the intervention of Hon. S.O.B. Agunbiade, who came in to end the fracas by appealing for the peaceful resolution of the crises immediately and directing LAWMA officials accordingly. The residents, who could not mention the names of the PSP operators while speaking to Oriwu Sun, appealed to the Lagos State government to cancel the contract of the operators, lamenting that they have failed t
o discharge their duties appropriately.
According to them, the poor performances of the operators had engendered filthy environment instead of neat and conducive environment as being chorused by the state government. The residents also blamed the inability of both state and local governments to effectively monitor the residents’ complaint., Hon. Agunbiade, who had a hectic time controlling the huge crowd, told them to clear their refuse away from the highway so that the heavy traffic congestion caused by their action could be reduced.
After they objected to doing so, the honourable, his aides and some residents embarked on clearing it before the PSP operators arrived with their vehicles and started moving them away.
The legislator later moved from street to street and assured the residents of Governor Ambode’s commitment to serving them better. He implored them to continue to be peaceful in lodging their complaints with the government. Concerning their complaints, he said that the State House of Assembly would summon the PSP operators in order to solve this problem amicably.
During the protest by the residents, the sole administrator of Ikorodu Local Government, Prince Gbolahan Ogunleye, was also present but it seemed the people did not recognise him. He did not disclose his identity and neither did he address them, but he was overhead complaining about the residents’ action and saying that he knew how he had been working tirelessly to ensure that the PSP operators collect all the refuse on that environmental sanitation day.
While speaking with Oriwu Sun, Prince Ogunleye said that he would work with CDAs and CDCs to checkmate the re-occurrence of this crisis and ensure proper refuse collection and management.
The Iyaloja General of Ikorodu, Alhaja Taofikat Allison, was also sighted at the scene complaining about the situation. The traffic grid-lock around the Ikorodu town started easing off around 2:00pm.