The Cross River Government has warned residents of State against flouting the monthly environmental sanitation order as it binding on all irrespective of placement and sociopolitical status.
The State Commissioner for Environment, Hon. Moses Osogi, who conveyed government's position while speaking to journalists on Saturday, during his Ministry's routine supervision of the monthly sanitation exercise for February 24th 2024, noted with dismay the flagrant breach of order by residents, some of which were found loitering the streets, exercising, and engaging in their normal businesses at sanitation period, assuring that such untoward attitudes will no longer be condoned as prosecution awaits defaulters.
The Environment Commissioner while enjoined residents of the State to participate actively in the monthly sanitation exercise as a determined effort to return Cross River back to its pride of place as the cleanest state in Nigeria.
In his words, "anyone who is moving freely on the street rather than partaking in the exercise to show solidarity in government's efforts to return Cross River to its status as the cleanest state in Nigeria would be arrested and prosecuted by our mobile courts henceforth."
The Commissioner informed that a total number of 6 mobile courts have been set up across the state to prosecute defaulters. The mobile courts, according to Osogi, cut across the urban areas which includes: Calabar South, Calabar Municipal, Ikom, Ogoja, Ugep and Obudu, while further disclosing that more mobile courts would come up in subsequent exercises.
The Commissioner expressed satisfaction at residents' high level cooperation, and disclosed that plans to reward the cleanest street have been concluded and that appropriate indices would be used to assess eventual winners.
He promised to inject new innovations into supervision and enforcement of the monthly environmental sanitation in a bid for improvement and sustenance of the exercise.
Major markets and streets in the Calabar metropolis were inspected by the Commissioner and his team during the exercise.
By Ebi Collins, The Beagle News
