The need to cover all public gutters in sensitive and volatile areas in Ondo State has been stressed after a visually impaired man fell inside a gutter.
The man named Mr. Babatunde Kareem suffered a life-threatening injury on Monday 22nd of May 2023 as a result of the incident. He fell inside the gutter, while about entering the establishment office at Alagbaka Akure.
The Chairman, Nigeria Association of the Blind in the State, Akilo Ojo Matthew and the Public Relation Officer, Nasirudeen Oladele made the plea in a statement in Akure at the weekend.
The statement read;
“Mr. Babatunde after alighting from the bike fell into the uncovered gutter at the front of the establishment office. The worst part of it is that the gutter contains of rods which injured him in his uterus and Utrera which caused him internal bleeding and since then has been hospitalized.
“The first hospital he was rushed to rejected him due to the severity of the injury and asked he should be taken to the federal medical centre Owo before another private hospital accepted to rescued him because the bleeding was getting out of hand.
“A surgical operation has been done on him to stop the bleeding and the Doctor have said another surgical operation would still be carried out.
“This is a clarion call to the Governor of Ondo state Arakunrin Odunayo Akeredolu to come to the rescue of Mr. Babatunde Kareem’s life and call for the construction of culvert on all the frontage of public offices most especially deep gutters and one with metals to forestall future occurrence of such.
“The sector that left the gutter uncovered in-spite knowing it could be a death trap should not be left unquestioned because this action of theirs does not meet up with the best global practices.
Mr. Babatunde need urgent attention to bring him back to normalcy and good health condition,” the statement noted.