The Sokoto State Ministry of Environment, has embarked on a refuse evacuation exercise in Sokoto and its environs to ensure a clean environment.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state commissioner for environment, Alhaji Sagir Bafarawa, made this disclosure when the House of Assembly Committee on Environment visited his office on Friday.
The committee led by its chairman, Alhaji Muhammad Idris (APC- Gwadabawa North), was on an oversight visit to some of the evacuation areas across the metropolis.
Bafarawa said a major challenge of the ministry was poor public habit of refuse disposal and the flouting of environmental laws, affecting indiscriminate dumping of refuse in waterways.
“The ministry has designated areas where refuse are to be dumped for easy evacuation, but many residents have continued to maintain their habitual sites.
“This has led to so much challenges and harm to our environment, which this may result in the outbreak of infectious diseases.
“As such, we are appealing to the public to always obey environmental laws so as to ensure that the state maintains its position of being one of the cleanest states in the country,” he said.
Earlier, the committee chairman lauded the ministry’s commitment towards ensuring a constant evacuation of wastes across the state.
Idris said that the state Assembly has received many complaints from the public on the issues of environmental challenges across the metropolis.
“Such complaints necessitated the committee’s move to embark on the oversight function so as to ensure the enforcement of environmental laws to guarantee public health.
“We have seen the challenges and as lawmakers, we will continue to ensure more support for the ministry in order to succeed in our collective desire of having a clean environment,” he said.
The lawmaker, however, called on the public to invest in refuse evacuation business in order to support government in guaranteeing a better environment.
