The Ogun State Government has read riot act to landlords, declaring that houses and buildings without toilet facilities risked forfeiture to the government, stressing that the warning was part of the government’s measures to eradicate open defecation in the state.
Penpushing reports that the Commissioner for Environment, Ola Oresanya,handed over the warning to the landlords in a statement made available to journalists in Abeokuta, adding that enough notice had been given landlords.
“Henceforth, old houses with collapsed toilets and without provision for new ones and new houses built without toilets will be forfeited to the state government. We are warning the landlords of those houses to either construct toilets or convert rooms to serve as toilets or risk forfeiting their homes to the state government’, he emphasised.
Penpushing further reports that Oresanya explained that government after several warnings and abatement notices spread over several months has given enough period for compliance, hence, any landlord that refuses to comply will have to face the consequences.
‘We have given the landlords a period for compliance, so we are not ready to persuade anyone again to do the needful. For the avoidance of doubt, we are now making it public again that any old or new houses without toilets will be forfeited to the government. After all, the environmental laws of the state allowed the government to take over such homes in the public interest’, he added.
Penpushing also reports that Oresanya stated that in similar vein the landlords caught in the web may be charged for endangering the lives of people living in their community, and equally called on the residents of the state, community development associations and central development councils to cooperate with the state government.
The Commissioner for Environment in the statement pointed out that and made further declaration that soon, the government would start to carry out the forfeiture as part of its efforts to make the state open defecation free.
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