25th September, 2021
A mobile court handling environmental-related cases on Saturday sentenced 18 people for violation of environmental sanitation laws in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
The judge, Mr Abdullahi Lande, convicted and sentenced them to six months imprisonment each with an option of a fine of between N5,000 and N50,000.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Mr Abubakar Mohammed, who is also a Chief Environment Officer, had told the court that the suspects were transacting their private businesses while the sanitation exercise was in progress.
Mohammed said that the offences violated Section 9(2), of the State Environmental Sanitation Law.
He urged the court to sanction the culprits accordingly to serve as deterrent to others.
Meanwhile, Mr Aliyu Agwai, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, has lauded residents of the state for their compliance with Saturday’s sanitation exercise.
Agwai added that in spite of the rainfall, a lot of residents of Lafia cleaned their surroundings and shops, as well as, cleared drains around their environments.
He further called on members of the public to always keep their environments clean to guard against an outbreak of diseases.
“Residents should cooperate more with the government towards ensuring that the state is clean in their best interest.
“If the environment was kept clean, it will guard against a possible outbreak of any disease, thereby ensuring improved healthy living of the people,’’ he added.
The last Saturday of every month is set aside by the Nasarawa State Government for sanitation exercise.