Edo State Waste Management Board, at the weekend, embarked on a clean up exercise of major roads, streets and markets within the Benin metropolis, as the state kicked off its weekly environmental sanitation exercise.
The state also set up a task force to enforce compliance to the weekly sanitation exercise as part of efforts to keep the state clean and ensure the health of residents.
Addressing journalists during monitoring of the exercise in Benin City, General Manager, Edo State Waste Management Board, Mr. Osadebamen Charles Imariagbe, said the government will arrest and prosecute defaulters and violators of the weekly environmental sanitation.
Imariagbe said: “We cannot afford not to keep our surroundings clean. The weekly environmental sanitation exercise, held every Saturday, has come to stay. Waste managers, officers of the Edo State Waste Management Board and Health Officers will be moving from house-to-house and facility-to-facility, and if your surroundings are not cleaned up, you will be prosecuted.”
He noted that Mobile Courts will be stationed across the city to try all environmental offences, adding, “If we move to any area, there will be a Mobile court moving with us. Your house, business premises and facilities need to be permanently cleaned.
“The exercise is in line with Governor Godwin Obaseki’s mission of keeping Edo State clean. The Board will continue to monitor compliance on the day of the sanitation exercise. When we go out, there will be a Mobile Court to prosecute violators because we don’t want to take laws into our hands.”
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