By Anita Chukwuma
Delta State Ministry Of Environment has taken further steps on sanitation sensitisation campaign on how to keep the environment clean or face the law to Ibusa community in Oshimili North Local Government Area of the state.
Speaking during the sensitisation campaign, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Minie Osaji, urged residents in Ibusa to always be conscious of their environment; keep it clean and avoid dumping waste indiscriminately.
Osaji called on the people to cultivate the habit of evacuating refuse from the existing drainages to avert sudden flooding, breeding of mosquitoes and diseases in the community.
She disclosed that the ministry would continue to monitor areas earlier supervised for effective implementation of environmental laws across the state, adding that it was the responsibility of the local government council to manage waste in the locality.
Osaji expressed dissatisfaction on the level of compliance with environmental cleanliness in the state, especially in the capital city, saying that local government councils should step up measures to ensure that their environment was cleaned and waste disposed properly.
Dr Osaji directed that local government chairmen should take responsibility of conducting monthly sanitation, improve on the aesthetic value of the society, and engage youths in the enforcement and implementation of environmental laws.
She added that owners or occupiers of premises should not allow dirt in the form of waste paper, wood, metal or other refuse to litter within 20 metres of their premises, but should evacuate the resultant refuse and bagged same for appropriate disposal to government approved dump sites.
She stated that failure to keep the premises clean would attract Waste Management Law in subsection 22(1d) that was published in The Pointer Newspaper on page 18 on the Friday, February 11, 2022 edition.
In response, Tony Chibogwu, said that they had been trying their best to keep the surroundings clean and decongest the road leading to the market in Ibusa, adding that the local government chairman, Hon. Innocent Esewezie, had contributed immensely in the cleaning up of Ibusa community.
Chibogwu disclosed that Oshimili North had inaugurated a task-force for the market and ensured that traders clean-up the market once a week and on daily basis for individuals, stressing that they removed hawkers from loitering the road and would continue to ensure that people complied with the stipulated laws.
