The Government of Osun State has dismissed as lazy armchair mischief a report in the media published by one Clean-up Nigeria, a supposed non-governmental organisation.
The report had rated Osun low in cleanliness performance index of states across the country.
In a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Funke Egbemode, the state government called on members of the public to disregard the report in its entirety as it did not reflect in any form or shape the situation in Osun.
According to Egbemode, the Clean-up report is unclean and suspicious.
“The people living in Osun know the truth and we implore them to see the report for what it is, the handiwork of mischievous clout-chasers seeking public acceptance and relevance by any means.
“One wonders which Osun State the report was rating. Is it this same Osun where Ifedayo Local Government is the only local government in the entire South-West that is Open Defecation Free, and among the 61 local governments out of 774 in Nigeria that have been certified Open Defecation Free.
“Is it this same Osun that has a functional Waste Management Agency that ensures safe waste disposal. This is a state that has a sanitation team among its Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) with a mandate to ensure cleanliness of streets, towns and cities across the state on a daily basis.
“The government’s heavy investment in de-silting and opening up of water channels is there for all to see. And these are just a few of the efforts of the state to keep its people safe. One can’t help but wonder how these details escaped Clean-up Nigeria in their sweeping generalization.
“If only the sponsors of the report had invested the necessary empirical undertaking to appraise the environmental status of Osun, they would have delivered a balanced and credible report,” the statement said.
The State Government reiterated its commitment to continue to do everything to improve the quality of lives of residents of the state irrespective of distractions from those who are grabbing at straws to keep their political relevance afloat.
“We’re not in the league of the untidy and the records need to be set straight because this kind of information possesses the capacity to mislead a large number of innocent Nigerians and also portray the government and the people of the State in false light,” the statement added.