KEEP KADUNA CLEAN!

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!





WHERE IS THE PEOPLES REPRESENTATIVES?

It is a common thing for politicians in Nigeria to forget campaign promises when they get into power and return with fresh promises when they need re-election, the sad thing is that Nigerians have being falling for this trick since 1998.

Saw a road recently in Yelwa/Romi ward of Kaduna State that needs asking of elected representatives of the people. This road is harmful to legs and cars alike {without exaggerating} that the dilapidated state of the road in that area led to the death of a seven year old because of flood.



its almost a month since rain fell in Kaduna state but water no still free the road.

I would like to emphasise the fact that representatives of this ward are not appointed but elected, the people of the area chose them to help salvage their situation yet transformation is still far away.

One resident who pleaded anonymity said “we have to park our cars far from our houses because of how bad the road is” another said “it is worse at night, when there is no light most people dey use torchlight to find better place to pass for the road”

Spirogyras have taken over! 

It is disheartening that this ward is not even in a rural area with scarce development, it is placed in between two major federal roads which means a good road network would definitely do more in lessening traffic on the federal highways and also open up the area for commercial activities.

When i asked of the councillor of the ward and efforts taken so far to fix the roads, no one was able to give a convincing answer. A resident popularly called 'coach' said the money given to councillors for their ward is not enough to do any meaningful facelift.

But then i ask, how much does it cost to erect a culvert, how much does it cost to fix drainages et al, in my view the issue is not about the money but that people do not hold their representatives accountable on how tax payers money are spent.

A culvert on the age of collapse... waste is also taking over the road!

Having said that, government is a two way thing, the people also contribute one way or the other to the continued decay of the roads by disposing waste in the not to good drainages and road sides in simple words, with no close attention to sanitary solutions.

Residents had to construct a makeshift passage for cars!

 

Initially thought of titling this piece ‘where is the councillor’ because of how sad the state of the road is, but changed my mind when I saw reasons that it would be unfair to place all the burden on the councillor alone, where is the Kaduna state Government?.

The fact speaks for itself

This may not be the worst road in Nigeria but is surely one of the worst in the Yelwa/Boro ward, true story peeps the road from Halima junction to Ejeg filling station is 'a story for the gods'. My people abeg get your voters card so we fit choose who go work for us come 2015.

Middle of a road that looks so much as a drainage!

lets not fall for the same trick come 2015, let the best man win.

 

LETTER TO MALAM NASIR EL-RUFAI!

Sir,
It is with admiration and a heavy heart that I write this letter to you. Admiration because of my belief that you are the right person to take Kaduna state to the level it ought to be. However i am saddened by the fact that it is coming a little too late.

While declaring to run for the 2015 governorship elections under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) you said “We must move Kaduna state from a state where people live in mutual suspicion; where few people feel safe or secure and where nothing gets done”, I can only hope that if you eventually become the next Governor of Kaduna State things would change to a great extent.

Sir, many young ones are ready and willing to vote for you because they desire change but have certain worries that need clarification before they fully commit themselves to supporting you. We cannot say for sure if what we hear is true or just propaganda, however it may be, your campaign team has to work on allaying the fears of indigenes as to whether you are a fanatic or not. One young man said to me “this one he is bearing ‘malam’ hope we are safe?”, another said you once made a mockery of Jesus Christ on twitter.

No matter how good your intentions for Kaduna state are, indigenes need to be assured that if elected, you would be a Governor for all tribe and religion (NAKOWA), that development would not be segmented to a particular region as has been the norm all along, and also that appointments would be based on merit not religious divide, it is only through unity that Kaduna state can develop and having a Governor who is one sided would not bring meaningful change no matter how hard we try.

Sir, another group of people are scared of demolition, they say, “El-Rufai would come and demolish our buildings”, for the success of this course, it is imperative at this stage that every propaganda or fear of indigenes are put to rest by your campaign team, they should endeavour to inform the people on the true position of things as it is now and how things would be done if you assume power.

It is true that Kaduna lacks infrastructure that ordinarily should be available, like a shopping mall properly so called (Shoprite, Spar et al), cinemas, relaxation gardens, good road networks especially southern Kaduna that has suffered abandonment e.t.c and for a change like this to occur, some demolition must happen.

With humility sir, am a young man who is considered ‘a baby’ to the workings of politics, forgetting that General Yakubu Gowon {RTD} became Head of state under the age of 30, from my point of view and how it is on the street i.e where the common man lives and hustles, ‘little things can make the difference’ in determining who wins the 2015 election.

The people of Kaduna need to see you more often than before and I am not talking about on television, we need to see you going round the state and inspecting projects that need changing, we should hear that Malam Nasir El-rufai just left Sabon-Tasha on his way to A.B.U Zaria, or Romi on his way to Mando. It is not advisable to leave this sort of trips till after party primaries, get the support of the young people now and the primaries would be yours Insha Allah.

A Wiseman once said “you cannot continue to do the same thing all the time and expect a different result”, sir your campaign should not be business as usual i.e. restricted to jingles, posters, TV commercials and all, the people of the state should have a close connection with you, even if it means “ungwan” to “ungwan”, by all means oblige them and victory would be yours

I write this letter because am an ardent believer of what you stand for, it would be most unfortunate for the crocodile city if you lose the race, that is why I have voiced out my concerns that need working on.

Finally sir, It is not a ‘do or die’ affair, the Almighty gives and he taketh, if it is his will you shall win and if it is not, there is nothing we can do.

Yours truly.

DANIEL BULUSSON ESQ