From Mohammad Ibrahim, Kaduna
Metro Environmental Cleaning Awareness Initiative, a nongovernmental organization based in Kaduna has urged the state government to set up a Local Area Environment Taskforce for the sanitation up-keep of the area.
The group also urged the government to provide necessary or appropriate refuse dumping point where residents will dump their refuse across the metropolis.
In a statement signed by the Groups Chairman, Jibril Sulaiman made available to newsmen in Kaduna, urged government agencies saddled with the responsibility of overseeing and enforcing environmental sanitation laws to stop traders and people from dumping refuse indiscriminately.
“We observed that traders along the major entry and departure points within the Kaduna Metropolis are carrying out their trading activities haphardly.
“ For example, traders along motor parks at Kawo, Sabo and Gonin Gora are in the habit of displaying their goods, especially edible items without proper consideration for hygiene of their items and also the sanitation of their surroundings.
“Most of them openly display edible items uncovered, with dusts, smoke and other harmful airborne particles easily contaminating their items. Similarly, their surroundings are dirty with all sorts of used package materials such as polythen bags, wrapping papers, fruits peals and heaps of waste dumps close by.
“Even most of the end-users usually dump indiscriminately on the ground after use. These practices have adverse environmental impacts that if not checked are capable of creating environmental as well as health problems,”he said.
The group called on the appropriate government agencies saddled with the responsibility of overseeing and enforcing environmental sanitation laws to take necessary steps in curtailing such potentially harmful practices.
