An Edo State Area Customary Court has convicted two persons in Benin metropolis for indiscriminate dumping of refuse at unauthorised places in the state.
The convicts, Mrs. Zenab Habib and Mrs. Goodness Samuel, were apprehended by a taskforce of the Edo State Government while dumping refuse along Akpakpava by King Square, Benin City.
The women were sentenced to three days community service and three days of intensive sensitization.
Reacting to the court ruling, the Commissioner for Environment, Engr. Jonathan Lawani, urged Edo residents to desist from dumping of wastes indiscriminately, stressing that an enforcement team has been set up and strategically positioned to monitor every area in the Benin metropolis.
The Commissioner said the women pleaded guilty during the court proceeding and were sentenced to three days community service each and they are also to do a sensitization exercise to the public after the clean-up exercise from 7am to 9pm.
According to him, “We have observed that despite all the effort of the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration to make the state clean and healthy for Edo residents, many people are still dumping indiscriminately in the city making people feel the government is not working.”
On his part, the General Manager of Waste Management Board, Mr. Osadebamen Charles Imariagbe, applauded the ruling by the Court, adding that it will help to checkmate the incessant indiscriminate dumping of waste and also serve as a deterrent to other others who would want to continue in the act.
He decried that despite the advocacy and sensitization across the state, many residents still find it difficult to desist from the indiscriminate dumping of refuse, adding that “the Ministry of Environment and the Waste Management Board, in collaboration with the Local Government have been given the mandate to ensure the state is clean and healthy for all. We, therefore, appeal to the general public to cooperate with us to make the state clean, safe and attractive to everyone.”
