No fewer than five goats were arrested at Dele-Yesa area in
Osogbo, the Osun State capital recently by officials of the state Waste
Management Agency (OWMA) for allegedly violating environmental laws. The
state Coordinator of the agency, Mr. Henry Ogunbanwo said the goats
would be charged to court by the agency and would be prosecuted in
accordance with the laws guiding environmental protection in the state.He said the state government had issued notice of warning to all residents of the state capital on the need to monitor their domestic animals to avoid public disturbance by the animals, which, he said, was against the environmental laws. Ogunbanwo disclosed that the five goats arrested were detained at the office of the agency in Osogbo from where they would be taken to court for prosecution.
He said the goats ran fowl of the laws guiding environmental protection by roaming around the residential area of Osogbo instead of being caged by their owners. He declared that the present administration in the state had zero tolerance for dirtiness and environmental hazard; hence the need for the enshrinement of the environmental laws, adding that the government would not take it lightly with violators of the laws According to him, officials of the agency would from now move to every nook and cranny of the state to arrest animals violating the state environmental laws, stressing that owners of such animals would also be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the laws.
Meanwhile, the owners of the five goats arrested by officials of Osun state Waste Management Agency OWMA, at Dele-Yesa area of Osogbo, Osun state on the 8th of Jan have been ordered to pay a sum of N10,000 each as fine to the coffers of the state government.
Mr. Henry Ogunbanwo, Director of Environmental Management and Sanitation in the Agency, disclosed this in Oshogbo over the weekend.
He noted that any of the owners of the goats, who failed to pay the fine within seven days would lose his or her goat.
Ogunbanwo emphasised that the agency was acting in accordance with the provisions of the article 101 of the 2002 laws of Osun State which prohibits rearing of animals in residential areas, stressing that the agency had the backing of the court.
It would be recalled that residents of Dele-Yesa area, Osogbo, Osun state were taken by surprise on Tuesday, when the officials of Osun State Waste Management Agency, OWMA, arrested five Goats roaming the streets