24th July, 2018
The Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) says it is will soon overhaul its enabling Act to streamline it in line with the current environmental regulations and guarantee their enforcement.
Alhaji Mukhtar Ibrahim, the Head, Information and Outreach Unit of the AEPB, said this in Abuja on Tuesday.
Ibrahim, who recalled that the Act was enacted in 1997, underscored the need to review the law to meet contemporary environmental challenges.
He said that the draft of the revised law was currently with the AEPB Legal Secretariat which was expected to put the document in proper legal framework.
“We must know that the AEPB Act was created in 1997; some of the penalties for offences are so feeble now and the amount charged as fine is easy to pay.
“It is too small that some people do not see the law as a deterrent. So, somebody prefers to come out there and cut down trees, which is against the law.
“For instance, he may be asked to pay a fine of N5, 000 and because he knows that he would make more than N5, 000 from selling the wood from the felled trees, he would not comply with the law.
“I think there is need to overhaul AEPB Act itself to bring it up in tandem with the current realities,’’ he added.
Ibrahim underscored the need to put in place stricter environmental laws to tackle the menace of the destitute, beggars and street hawkers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“Abuja, being the seat of the Federal Government, should not be a place for beggars or street hawkers.
“It does not project the country well before local and foreign visitors,’’ he said.
Ibrahim said that the AEPB Act only empowered mobile environmental courts to try and penalise street hawkers, adding that the courts had no power to try beggars and the destitute.
He said that the AEPB was now working on a draft law that would make street begging an offence, adding that the prospective law would go a long way to proffer lasting solutions to the menace of street begging in the city.
He underscored the need to outlaw street begging in Abuja, saying that several persons had adopted begging as a profession in FCT.
“In view of this, we monitor and ensure the removal of these beggars and destitute persons from the streets.
“We usually move them from our Area 3 office to the Social Development Secretariat for assistance in taking them to our rehabilitation centre in Bwari Area Council,’’ he said.
Ibrahim, who described the presence of beggars and the destitute in the FCT as moderate, nonetheless, emphasised the need for more rehabilitation facilities and funding to embark on environmental management advocacy.
He urged the residents of FCT to desist from giving alms to street beggars in support of the campaign to take beggars off the streets of the city.
He advised the residents to give their alms to religious houses, charity organisations and orphanage homes which would aptly use the funds to improve the well-being of the needy.