"We are not sleeping at all, Enugu State must be clean."
The Enugu State Government has banned dumpster scavenging in the state.
The state's Commissioner for Environment and Climate Change, Sam Ugwu, who disclosed this on Wednesday while speaking with reporters in Enugu, said the government warned against improper disposal of refuse at dump sites throughout the state.
"Defaulters would be penalised henceforth," Mr Ugwu said.
He said the ban was in line with the state government's high expectations of the Ministry for Environment and Climate Change.
Mr Ugwu revealed that the ministry had inaugurated "Refuse Marshals", who are strategically stationed at all the dumpsites in the state to ensure implementation of the ban and enforce an attitudinal change in negative refuse waste handling and disposal methods.
"The Refuse Marshals are powered to monitor any ongoing movement(s) around the dumpsters and arrest scavengers who do not allow these sites to breathe," he said.
He also warned against open refuse dumping.
The commissioner said that the state's monthly environmental sanitation exercise, which was suspended because of security issues, would be revived.
He said since his assumption of office, he had successfully engaged the Enugu State Waste Management Authority and other parastatals under his supervision, to live up to their statutory expectations.
"When we came onboard, we had a volunteer who helped to plant flowers at the Otigba Junction, down to New Heaven Junction of Enugu metropolis.
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"We have also planted trees by an assigned expert in the Zik's Avenue area of Enugu metropolis.
"The cutting of grasses is currently ongoing at Ogui, Okpara Avenue, Government House Old Lodge, among other places, to help beautify the environment.
"We are not sleeping at all. Enugu State must be clean. We are going to do everything to ensure that the people embrace the government mantra of cleanliness and environmental sanitation," he said.
"The state Ministry of Children, Gender Affairs and Social Development has been relocating mentally-disturbed persons found within Enugu metropolis to makeshift/temporary centres where they are well-catered for, daily," he added.
(NAN)
