Niger Environmental Protection Agency (NISEPA) has mapped out strategy aimed at enforcing and complying with environmental law across the state, the general manager of the agency, Dr. Abubakar Mohammed, has said.
He disclosed that the agency has already commenced the evacuations at some dump sites across Minna, Bida, Kontagora, and Suleja as part of measures put in place by the agency to ensure a clean and safe environment.
The GM, who disclosed this at a news briefing in his office on Friday, explained that the current leadership of Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago is committed to ensuring a clean and safe environment that will be a source of pride for the people of the state.
Dr. Abubakar warned people to desist from dumping their waste in undesignated areas, explaining that the agency will not hesitate to prosecute offenders in accordance with the relevant laws establishing the agency.
According to the general manager, the agency has already commenced the total evacuation of dumps in Kontagora, while in Bida and Suleja, some skeletal evacuations are ongoing, adding that all the urban cities in the state will soon witness complete evacuations of refuse.
He pointed out that after the evacuations of all the waste in the four major urban centres in Niger State, including Minna metropolis, "we don't expect to see any waste in the already evacuated dump sites any more".
He warned that the agency will go all out to ensure the prosecution of any person found dumping waste on the evacuated sites, while stressing the need for people to steer clear of dumping their waste on the cleared sites.
Speaking further, the general manager disclosed that the agency has already mapped out a plan to embark on inspections of drainages within and outside Minna the state capital, with the aim of monitoring the dumping of waste in the drainages.
He called on the residents within drainage areas to always take responsibility for their drainages by ensuring that waste was not dumped inside the drainages.
The general manager warned that monitoring teams will be deployed to various houses to inspect drainages in their respective areas, and anyone found dumping waste in the drainage will be held responsible.
"It is pertinent for people to take responsibility for their waste by desisting from dumping it indiscriminately.
"Especially in undesignated areas, because our inspection teams will soon embark on monitoring houses whose drainage is within their area to ensure that their drainage is kept clean," he said.
He then appealed to residents of Minna and its environs to always maintain a clean environment at all times.