In a bid to ensure market hygiene and promote healthy living, Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, has planned to establish a special task force to checkmate traders’ incessant disregard for environmental regulations and enforce sanitation exercise among others in the area.
The council chairman, Lawal Wasiu, made this known, at a meeting with market leaders across the local government at the council’s secretariat, Ota, explaining that, one of his priorities is to promote healthy living, where markets would be clean and hygienic enough to boost business activities.
Wasiu said part of the measures to achieve clean markets is to establish a sanitation task force that would mete out stringent measures against defaulters, stressing that environmental sanitation is key to healthy living, safety and well-being of the community at large.
He urged market leaders to educate their members to maintain a clean environment and promote hygienic living in the market. He added that the sanitation task force would work along with market leaders towards achieving the set objectives of enforcing, monitoring and reporting sanitation defaulters for appropriate fine.
In his remarks, Head of Local Government Administration Junaid Wasiu urged the Iyalojas and Babalojas to support the local government by contributing positively to its development, as well as providing information that would help in advancing the socio- economic development of the council.
In his contribution, Director of General Service and Administration Bisi Akinde added that marketers should not only maintain a hygienic environment but also eschew roadside trading, that could impede free flow of traffic.
In their separate remarks, Iyaloja General Adetoro Adeogun; Iyaloja Atan, Bosede Isiyemi; and Babaloja Oju Ore, Chief Ibrahim Dada appreciated the chairman for taking steps towards addressing challenges confronting the market.
They called for intervention over increment in the market levies among other disturbing issues affecting commercial activities, adding that waste bins and refuse package vans should be provided by the local government to make refuse disposal seamless across the area.