The sanitary condition of parts of the Sokoto state capital has been source of concern to many. Rubbish of all sorts overwhelmed some areas in the metropolis, which gave an appalling face-paint unfit for the state capital.

Many residents had express worry over the prevailing environmental state of the metropolis which they noted may lead to health hazards.

Piqued by the situation, the House of Assembly during one of its sittings penultimate week adopted a motion calling for the improvement in the sanitary condition of sokoto metropolis. Architect Ibrahim Almustpha Aliyu from Rabah Constituency who sponsored the motion noted with concern that despite the efforts being made by the present administration in the state towards ensuring healthy environment with the introduction of a full fledged ministry of Environment and reintroduction of the monthly sanitation exercise healthy, the desired results was yet to be achieved.

He called for the establishment of a sanitary agency and an effective policy should be adopted to control indiscriminate dumping of refuse as ways of checking the trend. Soon after the legislators' consideration of the sanitary issue, the state government also issued a statement on the subject matter where it gave two weeks for concerned authorities to clear the heaps of refuse littering the metropolis and its environs.

It directed Sokoto north and south local governments, Sokoto central market to ensure refuse are cleared from their respective areas while Ministry of Environment, Task force committee on sanitation and Sokoto Urban and Regional Planning Board ensure its supervisory roles.

The state government directed them to identify all known refuse collection points and re-establish them with immediate effect just as it pledges to provide skips at strategic locations within Sokoto metropolis and its environs.

It warned the organizations to maintain the tempo and never renege and called on the residents to desist from the arbitrary dumping of refuse due to the health hazard it posed to the people.

According to the state government, it took these measures to ensure that Sokoto is constantly kept clean in line with its tradition as one of the cleanest cities in Nigeria. Authorities concerned have swung into action with the ministry of Environment deploying 70 casual labourers to clean up sokoto metropolis.

Though the efforts have started yielding results in some areas, some others are still characterized by refuse.

Some of the cleaners complained of the attitude of some people who continue to dump refuse in areas already cleared while other decried inadequate working tools.

Managing Director Sokoto Environmental Protection Agency, Umar Wali however said efforts are on to ensures the desired result is achieved.

He said the sanitation exercise would be a continuous process and solicited all needed support. According to him, the labourers were distributed to various roads identified to be most filthy but that more roads would be covered in the exercise.

It would be recalled that six months ago, that is December, last year; the monthly sanitation exercise was reintroduced in sokoto. During the official flag off by Governor Aliyu Magatagkarda Wamakko the Sultan of Sokoto, voluntary organizations and the various security agencies were there to ensure the success of the exercise.