Enforcement teams from the Nasarawa Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources have arrested 196 people for violating environmental sanitation laws across the 13 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.
Abubakar Mohammed, Chief Prosecutor Officer of the ministry stated this while briefing journalists after the November sanitation exercise on Saturday in Lafia.
The Nasarawa State Government has set aside the last Saturday of every month for sanitation exercises.
The Chief Prosecutor said that the offenders were arrested for transacting their private businesses while the sanitation exercise was in progress.
He said that their actions violated the provisions of section 9 (2) of the State Environmental Sanitation Law.
He explained that the defaulters were prosecuted by various mobile courts at their respective LGAs to serve as a deterrent to others.
Meanwhile, Garba Rosha-Mohammed, Permanent Secretary of the ministry expressed satisfaction with the level of compliance by members of the public.
The PS described the level of compliance as impressive and attributed it to support from security agencies, traditional rulers, media, as well as inspection teams from the ministry.
He also commended the residents, especially shop owners, for clearing drains around their environments and shops as well as motorists for keeping off the roads during the exercise.
Rosha-Mohammed explained that the exercise would be strengthened to achieve the essence of reintroducing it in 2019 by Gov. Abdullahi Sule.
He called on members of the public to always keep their environments clean to guard against the outbreak of all diseases.
“If the environment is kept clean, it will guard against a possible outbreak of any disease, thereby ensuring improved healthy living of the people,’’ he added. (NAN).