The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency has decried the indiscriminate disposal of abattoir waste from the Kara Cattle Market along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway into nearby waterways.
The LASEMA Director General, Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, expressed his displeasure during a visit to the market alongside the Special Assistant to Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State on the Environment, Ola Oresanya, on Saturday.
Oke-Osanyintolu added that such indiscriminate dumping of waste from the abattoir into the waterways could lead to environmental health hazard.
He also warned that their action could also lead to flooding of the waterways flowing into the Owode Onirin/Mile 12 axis and other parts of Lagos State.
Oke-Osanyintolu sensitised the cattle sellers and meat processors on the need to maintain high hygiene standards and to stop disposing waste into the waterways.
He urged the cattle sellers and meat processors to dispose their waste properly through the Ogun State Private Sector Participation waste operators.
He stressed on the need for them to build septic tanks to store all human waste, erection of a waste retention tank and strategic placement of waste collection materials around the market.
“There is need for Kara market leaders to ensure daily cleaning of the market,” Oke-Osanyintolu said.
The LASEMA boss said that henceforth officials of Kara market are to begin an aggressive cleaning of existing waste in the market to prevent environmental health hazards in Lagos and Ogun States.
Also, Oresanya urged traders and officials of the market to comply with the extant rules and regulations of both states to ensure a habitable environment.
He said the Ogun State Government would henceforth engage in continuous sensitisation with the traders until positive changes were observed in their operations.
