By Dayo Johnson
Akure— GOVERNOR Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, weekend, set up a task force to tackle the problem of filth in the state to avoid epidemic following the take-over of the streets by refuse due to ongoing strike.

Workers of the state Waste Management Board are also participating in the industrial action and mass action against the hike in the pump price of petrol.

The task force includes the Commissioner for Environment, Sola Ebiseni, Commissioner for Employment, Labour and Productivity, Taye Akinyele and Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Aderotimi Adelola.

Others are the Chairman of the State Waste Management Board, Yetunde Adeyanju and the Chairman, Task Force on Environmental Sanitation, Gbenga Atiba.

The task force was saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that the major towns in the state are kept clean and without refuse.

It has the responsibility of ensuring that towns like Akure, the state capital, Owo, Ikare-Akoko, Okitipupa and Ondo are cleaned up.

Speaking on the development, the Commissioner for Environment said the task force was to avoid outbreak of epidemic in the state.

He said, “As a result of the effect of the strike on environmental cleanliness, Mr Governor constituted the task force to look into other means of waste management in this period.

”The task force in our effort to rid the state of debris has worked in Akure and we intend to get to other parts of the state, we relying on volunteers employed by the state government to carry out the exercise”