EditorFrom Wim Dogara, Maiduguri
For violating its sanitation laws, the Borno State special sanitation mobile court Saturday sentenced 11 residents to two weeks in jail.
The sanitation law under which the defaulters were sentenced, was passed by the Borno State House of Assembly in June last year.
The 11 residents were summarily summoned before the special sanitation court at the environmental protection agency premises in Maiduguri and sentenced to two weeks at the state’s new prison facility. They were, however, given an option of N2000 fine.
Prime Business Africa could not confirm if any of the cinvicts were able to take tge leeway provided by the fine option as the majority of them showed lack of capacity to pay.
The defaulters, numbering 11, were arrested on Saturday during the monthly sanitation exercise observed every first Saturday of the month in Maiduguri and surrounding local governments for opening their business premises while sanitation exercise was still ongoing.
General manager of the Borno State Environmental Protection Agency (BOSEPA),Abubakar Suleiman, said, “there is no going back on the project of restoring sanity to the environment, as the agency will implement all relevant laws to make sure environmental laws are observed by residents.”
The Supervisory Commissioner for Environment, Kaka Shehu Lawan, who supervised the sanitation at the Monday Market area through Baban-Layi and other major refuse collection sites, said the state would pull down structures erected on waterways in efforts to implement the Development Masterplan of Maiduguri.
“The only language they understand is to pull down their buildings and that is exactly what we shall do. Every resident of the state must observe the extant laws guiding our environment,” Kaka Shehu stated.
“Just last night (Friday), we caught a particular waste management company dumping refuse in one of the rivers within the state capital. This streams and rivers are sources of water supply to Maiduguri residents and it is our duty to ensure the provision of healthy, clean water supply to our residents.
Investigations into their activities have commenced and appropriate actions will be taken against them when completed. But, n the meantime, we have banned the company.
We have commenced dredging of these rivers to provide safe, clean water to the residents. The state capital will soon be fumigated and protected against germs and other diseases. Once there’s any pandemic, it will consume the entire residents; so, we have to protect them.
We took oath to discharge our duties without fear or favor, and that is what we will do,” the commissioner added.
He said as part of efforts to avert the danger of desertification, government had started planting deep-rooted trees across the state to safeguard the environment from desert encroachment.
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