Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Bauchi state under the umbrella of the ‘Bauchi State Network of Civil Society Organizations’ (BASNEC) has called on the Bauchi State Environmental Protection Agency (BASEPA) to improve its efforts in waste management to prevent infectious diseases such as Lassa fever, Cholera and others.
The CSOs made the call on Thursday when they paid an advocacy visit to the agency.
Spokesperson of the CSOs Comrade Sadiq Sadiq appealed to the agency to strengthen the laws on sewage management to safeguard the environment.
According to him, sanitary inspectors should be empowered to enforce cleanness and compliance with environmental regulations by the residents of the state.
They also tasked the agency to checkmate the activities of those who fell trees indiscriminately for firewoods and charcoal saying their actions destroy the forest and cause windstorm.
“We wish to also ask that the agency support the scale-up of the provision of improved toilet facilities in public places towards contributing to an Open Defecation free Bauchi State and Nigeria at large.
“Sustain efforts for continuous disinfecting and decontaminating of the environment to reduce chances of spreading infectious diseases”. He said.
Responding, the Director-General of the agency Dr Ibrahim Kabir expressed appreciation to the CSOs for the advocacy visit noting that their advocacies help authorities in the formulation and execution of policies and programmes.
He also promised that the agency will in the next few days address the menace of deforestation in parts of the state and will improve its environmental sanitation and hygiene services.
