ILORIN – The Kwara State Government will soon meet the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Salihu Garuba, to discuss ways of curbing the security breach usually recorded during the monthly environmental sanitation.
The state Commissioner for Environment and Forestry, Mr Usman Mora, disclosed this at a media briefing on Saturday in Ilorin after the monthly exercise.
Mora alleged that some people were deliberately sabotaging the efforts of the state government by violating the state environmental law.
“The issue of security lapses is becoming worrisome, and the state government will put measures in place to curtail the untoward attitude of some residents towards the sanitation law,’’ he said.
The commissioner commended Brig.-Gen. Johnson Olawumi, the NYSC Director-General, for ensuring the participation of corps members in the exercise.
He said the partnership brought about by the Kwara NYSC participation would serve as a morale booster in addressing the non-challant attitude of some residents to sanitation.
Also speaking, Dr Afonja Ibrahim, a stakeholder, alleged that some unidentified youths attempted to mob a magistrate who presided over a Mobile Court in Ipata, Ilorin East Local Government Area.
Ibrahim, who is the President, Environmental Health Officers Association of Nigeria (EHOAN) in Kwara, however, did not mention the name of the magistrate.
He said the incident could be attributed to the inadequate number of security personnel available during the exercise.
Ibrahim then called for the deployment of more armed police officers for the exercise in future.
In his remarks, Mr Sikiru Olanipekun, the Director of Environment in the state Ministry of Environment and Forestry, called for the active participation of local governments in the exercise.
Olanipekun said the security lapses being witnessed during the monthly sanitation would be improved upon in subsequent exercises.
Meanwhile, 40 people were arrested and arraigned at different mobile courts in several locations in Ilorin for contravening the state Environmental Sanitation Law.
Many of the defaulters were fined while those who could not afford the fines were remanded in police custody.(NAN)