To avert the outbreak of diseases and natural disasters such as floods, the Niger State House of Assembly has urged the executive arm of government to reintroduce the monthly sanitation exercise.
During the order of the day at the 8th sitting of the assembly, the member representing Chanchaga Constituency, Hon. Mohammed Abubakar, raised a motion in that respect, which was seconded by the member representing Gbako, Hon. Yahaya Abubakar.
The member representing Chanchaga lamented over the spate of refuse dumps littering the state capital and other major cities, which he said was putting the state under serious health hazard and environmental disaster.
According to him, "unclean environments and flooding can trigger disease outbreaks such as lassa fever, cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid, and so on."
He added that Section 5 Subsection 1 of the Niger State Environmental Protection Agency (Amendment) Law 2011 provided for the Governor to declare any Saturday of the month as an Environmental Sanitation Day.
After deliberations on the motion, the House unanimously agreed on it, and it was adopted and affirmed.
However, another motion calling on the executive arm of government to put mechanisms in place for the reopening of schools closed as a result of insecurity was stepped down until the House Committees were formed.
The Speaker, Rt. Hon. Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, assured the members that the committees would be put in place next week.
Meanwhile, Hon. Muhammad Sani Idris, who moved the motion, said that with the various committees in place, it will give the motion a wider prospect, saying that he was worried over the number of children staying at home as a result of the school closures.
Hon. Sani Idris said that what was needed to reopen the schools was to have all relevant stakeholders involved in the process.