From Esther Akaa, Lafia
Rotary club, Lafia Central, Nasarawa State in collaboration with the State Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources on Saturday commenced sensitisation of residents of Lafia metropolis against indiscriminate waste disposal and how to keep motor parks and other public centres clean.
The President of the club, Mr Raymond Osafuomwan said the exercise was aimed at encouraging residents, especially commercial drivers to keep their surroundings clean to avoid harmful insects such as mosquitos.
Mr Osafuomwan said the campaign against indiscriminate waste disposal was a continuous exercise targeted at ensuring a clean and healthier environment, saying it is part of the club’s contribution to the development of the state.
“We came out this morning to sensitise drivers on the need for them to keep their environment clean because it is not really about conveying passengers from one place to another. We want to sensitise them not only on a day like this but they should do this on a daily basis. They should also keep the buses clean because vehicles too may be hosting parasites that may cause harm to the passengers.
“We discovered that passengers while traveling throw things from the window, so when there are waste bins provided in the vehicles, it will discourage the acts of throwing things indiscriminately, “the president said.
He therefore, called on drivers to ensure that they provide a waste bin in their vehicle where passengers can dump refuse in order to discourage indiscriminate disposal of waste in the state.
Also speaking, the state Commissioner of Environment and Natural Resources, Musa Ibrahim appreciated the club for complementing the efforts of government in its campaign against indiscriminate disposal of refuse.
The commissioner called on other organisations to emulate the gesture of the club by carrying out similar community development services that will encourage individuals to imbibe the habit of keeping their environment clean at all times.
“These are the things we need in the state so that other clubs outside there will also see and emulate because you can’t leave everything in the hands of government. The people are the government. People must imbibe the habit of helping the government and of course helping themselves.
“I want to thank the people of Nasarawa State for complying with the state environmental sanitation laws . But we have also observed from our hinterland that people are not careful given the fact that we are approaching raining season and there would be need for them to clear their drainages in front of their houses within the compound and backyard so that we would have avoid the breeding of mosquitoes and rats. Mosquitoes spread malaria and rat is spreading lassa fever,” he said.
He condemned the act where people from other states try to sabotage the state sanitation exercise by pouncing on sanitation agents, saying government would not accept such acts.
“We won’t accept situations where people from other state pounce on our agents during sanitation exercise because this is a law and people must respect our laws.They can not come from a state where similar activities is been carried out just to flaunt our own laws,” he said.
He appealed to the residents and shop owners to clear the drainage in front of their house and shops to avoid sanctions.
Meanwhile, the mobile court, handling environmental-related cases prosecuted 37 persons for violating the state environmental sanitation laws .They were charged to court with various fines according to their offences.
