25th January, 2020
A Mobile Court handling environmental-related cases on Saturday prosecuted 300 people suspected to have violated environmental sanitation laws in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
Addressing the court, the prosecutor, Abubakar Mohammed, who is also a Chief Environment Officer, said that the suspects were arrested while transacting their private businesses when they should be engaged in sanitation exercises.
He said that the offences violated Section 9(2), of the State Environmental Sanitation Laws, and urged the court to sanction them accordingly, to serve as deterrent to others.
After listening to the submission of the prosecutor, the Judge, Shittu Umar, convicted some of them, sentencing them to between two and four months, respectively.
He, however, gave them options of fines.
Umar also ordered that the properties of offenders, who absconded and refused to appear before the court, should be confiscated.
He said that such properties should be auctioned in line with the state’s environmental sanitation laws if their owners failed to present themselves within three weeks.
Meanwhile, Musa Ibrahim, the state Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, has described the level of compliance with the sanitation exercise as “impressive”, compared to previous sanitation days.
He, however, said that the government would strengthen the capacity of the inspectors to enhance efficiency.
The commissioner called on members of the public to always keep their environment clean to guard against diseases.
The last Saturday of every month is set aside for sanitation in the north-central state.