By David Odama (In Lafia, Nasarawa State)
Nasarawa State Government, on Saturday, arrested over 103 persons for violating sanitation law in four local government areas of the state.
The state Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, carried out the arrest of the 103 persons for violating environmental sanitation laws during the monthly sanitation exercise at the weekend.
Chief Prosecuting Officer of the ministry, Abubakar Mohammed, who dropped the figure in an interview with journalists in Lafia, Nasarawa State capital, said the offenders were arrested by the enforcement team for transacting businesses during the sanitation exercise.
According to Mohammed, the action of the affected persons violated the provisions of Section 9 (2) of the State Environmental Sanitation Law. He further explained that the offenders were prosecuted by the Mobile Courts across the state for various offences, to serve as deterrent to others.
Earlier, the state Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Yakubu Kwanta, had noted that the ministry has strengthened the capacity of the inspectors, and deployed them to rural areas for house-to-house inspection to enhance efficiency.
"We only allowed those with permission from relevant authorities and those on essential services to pass, and move around during the exercise,” he explained.
Kwanta called on members of the public to always adhered to the sanitation exercise, observe the law and keep their environment clean to guard against outbreak of diseases. NNL.
