Stumbled upon a law that caught my
interest and kept me wondering why the crocodile city has not achieved much
when it comes to cleanliness, talking about dirt in gutters and blocked
drainages. The Kaduna State Environmental
Protection Authority, Solid Waste Management Regulation No.1 of 2010
provided by the Government to keep the state clean.
Section (2) provides for the prohibition of throwing
rubbish on the streets, e.t.c, it states that no person shall throw, lay or
deposit litter, refuse or waste of any matter on any street, gutter, open space.
In layman terms, na offense to troway trash like pure water sachets for street
or gutters.
Section (3) is a provision of public
refuse receptacles, for instance every Bus driver in any part of the state
shall make use and maintain a waste bin in his vehicle at all times, i can say
for sure i.e 100% certainty that most danfo buses in the state don’t have one
and our enforcement agencies are yet to apprehend this drivers or at least,
bring them up to date on the provisions of this law.
The
Government are not without their own obligation, section (4) state that it shall be the duty of each Local
Government Authority to locate, construct and maintain public refuse
receptacles in strategic places , where residents may deposit their household
waste, sadly this is not the position of things on ground, last week we spoke
about where the peoples representatives are, this is one aspect where they are
lacking.
A
law would be meaningless without sanctions, section (16) provides for penalty and guess what? Any person who
fails to comply with any of these provisions shall be guilty of an offense and
liable on conviction to a fine of not more than One hundred thousand naira or
not more than five years imprisonment.
Why then is kaduna state not there yet? Is it because the authority saddled with responsibility of enforcing this law i.e Kaduna Environment Protection Authority not performing to expectation? Or is the Authority not well funded by the Government to carry out her duties effectively?
THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR OF KADUNA STATE
It
is clear that the people of the state are unaware of this law, as such, Kaduna
State Government and KEPA need do more to enlighten the people of the state in
a bid to ‘Keep Kaduna Clean’
"Cleanliness is next to Godliness" lets endeavour to keep our environment clean!