Nasarawa Govt warns against indiscriminate  bush burning

The Nasarawa State Government has warned residents against indiscriminate burning of bushes and dumping of refuse to prevent fire and diseases in the state.

The State Commissioner of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr Yakubu Kwanta, gave the warning during the monthly sanitation at the weekend in Lafia.

Kwanta said the ministry in conjunction with the Nasarawa State Waste Management Board had provided 12 designated waste dumpsites in Lafia and as well made adequate arrangements for evacuation of refuse in the state.

The commissioner represented by the Chief Prosecuting Officer in the ministry, Mr Abubakar Mohammed, said the March sanitation focused more on cleaning of streets and houses in the hinterland.

Kwanta noted that sanitation was more than mounting of road blocks on major ways to prevent vehicular movement.

He said that the ministry dispatched inspection teams to different streets and houses to enforce compliance.

“We were directed by the governor not to block major roads because of the All Progressives Congress (APC) convention.

“Hence, we divided our team and dispatched them to different locations for inspection and enforce compliance.

“The duty of our inspection officers is to monitor the level of compliance, inspect drainages to ensure there is no blockage; and also do what we called street to street and house to house monitoring and inspection,” he said.

The commissioner urged the residents to always keep their environment clean to prevent lassa fever and cholera outbreak, among others.

He, however, warned residents of the state to desist from dumping of refuse in the drains and urged them to comply with the sanitation regulations.

Kwanta, while describing the level of compliance as 80 per cent, disclosed that 13 persons were arrested in Lafia for various offences.