No fewer than 300 people were arrested on Saturday by the Kwara State Government for alleged violation of Environmental Sanitation Law in the state.
The State Commissioner for Environment, Abosede Buraimoh, disclosed this in Ilorin on Saturday while monitoring the monthly sanitation exercise.
According to a statement by the Press Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Okanlawon Taiwo, the Commissioner, who led the enforcement team alongside the Chairman, Environmental Sanitation Enforcement Taskforce, Air Vice Marshal Ishaq Balogun(retd.), warned that the current dispensation had zero-tolerance for environmental pollution and would stop at nothing to keep Kwara clean.
Buraimoh explained that the need to arrest the violators became necessary in order to put an end to environmental nuisance in the state.
The Commissioner, who was appalled at people’s attitude during the exercise said that despite meetings held with various environmental stakeholders as well as sensitisation of the people and the publicity mounted on the radio for the monthly exercise, people still failed to adhere to sanitation rules of staying at home to clean up and tidy their surroundings.
“It is disheartening that despite efforts of this administration at providing an enabling and sustainable environment to residents, people still went ahead violating the environmental laws of the state, not minding the fact that a filthy environment poses threats to individual lives, forgetting that when epidemics break out, it knows no bound,” the Commissioner stated.
Buraimoh frowned at the act of indiscipline exhibited by people who refused to comply with the environmental law, warning that the subsequent exercise will equally be strictly enforced and monitored by state officials.
She emphasized further that the enforcement of sanitation law will continue until people understood the need to take care of their environment and the implementation of the goal of sanitation exercise is achieved.
“As citizens, proper waste disposal is a way of exercising your responsibilities as well as supporting the government in putting an end to the scourge of filthy environment,” she stressed.
Buraimoh said that those that were arrested for breaching the law during sanitation would be prosecuted for the offence.
Earlier, the Chairman, Environmental Sanitation Enforcement Taskforce, Air Vice Marshal Ishaq Balogun, (retd.) warned people to henceforth comply with the Environmental Sanitation Laws, otherwise, they should be ready to face the full wrath of the law.
Those in the Commissioner’s monitoring team included Col Kayode Umar (retd.); Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Pastor Abraham Ojo; and Director General, Kwara State Environmental Protection Agency, Alhaji Saad Dan-Musa, among others.
