Ogbere Idi-Osan Market in Inukan Local Council Development Area, has emerged as the cleanest market in Ibadan metropolis under the Operation Keep Ibadan Clean and Flood-Free (OKIC&FF) initiative.
Ogbere Idi-Osan was declared the winner on Wednesday having scored 73.5%, Gbaremu market came second position with 72.6% while Monatan market came third with 71.8% in the first quarterly cleanest market competition in Ibadan.
The Commissioner of Environment and Water resources, Mr Isaac Ishola Tejubiyi, while announcing the result explained how the winners emerged.
He said “Official correspondence from the Ministry of Environment and Water resources to all the 25 LGAs and LCDAs Ibadan metropolis requesting them to send list of their eligible markets for the competition.
“Responses were received from only 11 LGAs / LCDAs at the expiration of the timeline, even with some extension. The committee / panel embarked on sensitization visits to all the markets listed by the LGAs and LCDAs that responded, in concert with the Environmental Health Officers of the respective LGAs / LCDAs.
“This is the first edition of the competition spanning July to September 2018. The competition would be held on quaterly basis. The essence is to inculcate the habit and practice of cleanliness and environmental sanctity in our open makets and other public places.”
The Chairman of Inukan LCDA, Mr Adesina Saheed Lanre, while reacting to the victory, said “If one can investigate very well, anything that has to do with environment and health generally, I don’t joke with it, right from the days of being a caretaker chairman up till now that I’m the executive chairman.
“I even come out personally to supervise with my staff from the environment department all markets every Thursday and the ones that we do at the end of the month. So I think this good job including the environmental exercise we conducted in conjunction with the ministry of environment several times. When it comes to the issue of urban flooding and taking a proactive step to stop flooding. I do a lot of sensitisation to the public.
“I think these good works that have been done have now proved that we up to the task. No doubt, this one we are doing today, I’m very elated that at least the works that have been done have been recognized by the authority of Oyo state.”
The Project Coordinator Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP), Mr Dayo Ayorinde speaking about OKIC&FF, said: “The Operation Keep Ibadan Clean and Flood-Free is one of the non-structural measures conceived by the Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP) to tackle the problem of indiscriminate dumping of waste in markets, motor parks and other such public places.
“It is line with the IUFMP mandate of mitigating flood risk disaster within Ibadan Metropolis, a ground breaking initiative of the administration of the Executive Governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi.
“OKIC&FF is being implemented by a multi party committee drawn from IUFMP, Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Oyo State Waste Management Authority (OYOWMA), Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) and Nigeria Network for Awareness and Action for Environmental Health an international NGO focusing on environmental health.
“The overriding objective is to raise the cleanliness index of these places of mass convergence within Ibadan Metropolis, thereby improving the environmental status of the city.”
Dignitaries at the event were chairmen of LGAs / LCDAs; Adesina Saheed Lanre (Inukan LCDA), Akeem Akintunde Sodiq (Egbeda), Adeyemi Adeyinka (Ajorosun LCDA), Asp. J. K. Afolabi (DPO Argugu), Mrs Iswat Abiola Amerigun (Iyaloja Ibadan), Mrs Mulikat Raji (Iyaloja Ogbere Idi-Osan) and others.
