Nasarawa govt cautions residents against littering of environment with polythene bags

The Nasarawa government says it will henceforth sanction anyone caught littering the environment with polythene bags in the state.

The state Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr Kwanta Yakubu, said this while briefing newsmen at the end of monthly environmental exercise on Saturday in Lafia.

According to him, the Ministry will soon lunch “operation pick the polythene by your side” to ensure that the state is clean.

“We are already drafting a proposal which will be sent to the governor for his approval.

“Once the document is completed and gets the approval of the governor, it will be forwarded to the house of assembly as executive bill.

“Once we have the legal backing, the Ministry will embark on aggressive enforcement of the law to keep the state clean,” the Commissioner said.

On the assessment of the sanitation exercise, the Commissioner expressed satisfaction with the level of compliance by the residents.

He attributed the success of the sanitation exercise to support from the security agencies, and awareness by the media.

Yakubu promised that the Ministry would strengthen compliance in the subsequent exercises to achieve maximum success.

Meanwhile, a mobile court, handling environmental-related cases, has prosecuted 56 persons suspected to have violated environmental sanitation laws in the state.

The Prosecutor, Mr Abubakar Mohammed, who is also a Chief Environment Officer, told the court that the suspects were transacting their private businesses, while the sanitation exercise was in progress.

Mohamme said that the offences violated Section 9(2) of the State Environmental Sanitation Law.

He urged the court to sanction them accordingly to serve as a deterrent to others.

The Judge, Mr Abdullahi Lande, convicted and sentenced them to six months imprisonment with option of fine of between N5,000 and N50,000 respectively. (NAN).