By Our Reporter, Lafia
Nasarawa State Government says it has intensified its sensitisation campaign to flood-prone Local Government Areas to mitigate flood disasters in the state.
Mr Yakubu Kwanta, the State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources disclosed this during the Monthly Sanitation on Saturday in Lafia.
The Commissioner, represented by the Ministry Permanent Secretary, Garba-Rosha Mohammed, said the Ministry had gone to flood-prone communities to sensitise them on the need for early evacuation in the event of flooding.
He said Nasarawa state was among the states the federal government under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu graciously gave N3 billion toward mitigating flooding.
“As you know his Excellency Gov. Abdullahi Sule is a transparent person, he will ensure that the fund is utilised judiciously, especially for what it’s meant for.
“We have been creating awareness on flooding and the need for early evacuation from the flood-prone areas, we have automated machines in the flood-prone LGAs that have connected to our phones.
‘ Any time the alarm is shown to us that there will be flooding, we start telling these people to evacuate to a safer place,” he said.
Applauded the level of compliance on sanitation and called for sustenance in the state.
“We appreciate the Emir of Lafia for his support, supervision, and participation, we also thank the community people and
stakeholders for their participation in keeping their environment clean.
“Actually, went round with the media, we have seen what people are doing, the compliance was 85 percent.
“Honestly, we are glad to see how people are passionately responding to this exercise,” he said.
Kwanta said sanitation inspectors were deployed to supervise the evacuation of drainages and culverts for easy flow of water to prevent flood and other devastating effects on the environment.
Dr Abubakar Mohammed, Chief Prosecutor Officer of the Sanitation and Director of Enforcement and Compliances, at Nasarawa State Waste Management and Sanitation Authority, said 86 sanitation defaulters were arrested.
“We have made some arrests in the cause of the Sanitation, and mostly motorists and tricycles, and we summon the Chairman of Tricycle for not informing his people before the sanitation even though he is part of the team.
He gave the breakdown of the arrest in the local government as follows; Lafia 12, Doma 15, Nasarawa Eggon 12, Karu 35, Keffi 12, noting that they would be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others. (NAN)