Residents of Zango Ward in Ilorin East Local Government Area of  Kwara State, have appealed to the state government to attend to a heap of refuse at Okesuna area of  Ilorin, the state capital.

Speaking with Community News in Ilorin, members of Zango Ward Development Association Elders’ Forum, led by Alhaji Lanre Sheriki, lamented the plight of inhabitants of the area as a result of alleged widespread of diseases which they said had also claimed lives.

The people said the waste had constituted threat to them  as the dump site had become a breeding spot for diseases as cholera, dysentery among others that could be contacted through dirty environment.

An unconfirmed report had it that a 12-year-old boy, who lived near the waste, died of cholera about three weeks ago, while several similar cases had been recorded in the area.

The members of the association also said that the dumping site had become a hideout for some disgruntled elements who they said took an undue advantage of the site to unleash terror.

They said members of the community usually engage in communal effort to get rid of the mountainous dumping site, adding that the enormity of the waste was beyond what the community alone could tackle even with the environmental sanitation exercise at the end of every month.

The forum, thus, called on the state government to come to their aid by clearing the site and erecting a development project on the site.     

They said the people of the area would continue to appreciate the governor and his administration if the request was granted.

The association also commended the state government for the comprehensive renovation of Okesuna. Primary School, describing it as first of its kind in the history of primary schools in the state.

They said the renovated school was one of the forerunners among primary schools in the state, adding that it has produced many eminent personalities who had excelled in their chosen careers.