The Oyo State Government has launched a whistleblower platform, Oyo SSS, to enable residents to report environmental infractions and support the government’s efforts to improve sanitation across the state.
The State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Hon. Ademola Temitayo Aderinto, disclosed this while speaking on the government’s environmental enforcement efforts.
Aderinto said the initiative was designed to ensure sanity in the environment by providing the government with credible, useful and verifiable information about places where environmental laws are being violated.
He said residents who report environmental infractions with sufficient evidence would be rewarded if their information leads to the prosecution and fining of offenders.
According to him, residents can report violations through the Oyo SSS application, available on the Google Play Store, as well as through WhatsApp or by phone.
Aderinto explained that whistleblowers are expected to provide evidence of the alleged violations, adding that offenders found guilty would be prosecuted and fined in accordance with the law.
He said whistleblowers would receive a percentage of the fines collected from offenders whose cases are successfully established through the information provided.
The Commissioner gave the Oyo SSS reporting line as 09116696777, urging residents to participate in the initiative.
Aderinto also dismissed the belief that skip bins placed at some locations across the state are public waste disposal points for residents.
He explained that some of the containers were specifically provided for markets within those areas, with the markets paying for waste collection.
He said the state’s environmental regulations require waste to be collected from the point where it is generated, rather than being transported by residents to skip bins, road medians or open spaces.
According to him, the continued dumping of refuse in unauthorised locations remains a major environmental challenge facing the state.
Aderinto disclosed that the government had commenced enforcement of house-to-house bin ownership and Private Sector Participation (PSP) registration to discourage residents from dumping waste in open spaces.
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He said the initiative would ensure that waste is picked up directly from households and other sources instead of ending up on roadsides and other unauthorised locations.
The Commissioner noted that the government spends significant amounts of money on daily waste collection, stressing that proper compliance by residents would help reduce the unnecessary cost and improve environmental sanitation.
He, however, said the state had recorded a high level of compliance with bin ownership and PSP registration, which he said had contributed to a reduction in the volume of waste being dumped in open spaces.
Aderinto urged more residents to comply with the state’s environmental regulations and become part of the Oyo SSS whistleblower initiative.
