22 PERSONS CONVICTED IN JOS FOR VIOLATING PLATEAU STATE SANITATION LAWS
Peter Azi – Jos
The Chief Magistrate of the Plateau State Judiciary, Hon. Hannatu Yop Ashom, has convicted and fined 22 persons in Jos for violating the state’s sanitation laws.
The defaulters were arrested and charged at the mobile court presided over by her during the monthly sanitation exercise for July in Jos.
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The exercise began with the enforcement of restriction of movement as well as house-to-house inspection at Terminus, Yan’taya, Filling Ball, and Congo Russia, all in Jos North Local Government Area.
Speaking to the press shortly after the exercise, the Director of Administration, PEPSA, Mr. Izang Pate, said the agency would not relent in ensuring a cleaner and healthier Plateau.
_“Dirty environments generate sickness. We have gone round and realized that some people are not fully participating in the sanitation. For us as a government, anybody who is not participating and cooperating in the sanitation is an enemy to himself and to his immediate environment,”_ he said.
Izang further stated that during the exercise, they discovered that some drainages were in bad shape.
_“We embarked on house-to-house inspections and we rate compliance at 50 percent. But we encourage people to do more,”_ he added.
_“I want to use this medium to encourage Plateau people, particularly those in Jos North LGA, to ensure proper hygiene because there is an outbreak of cholera that led to the demise of one person.
I am also appealing to all religious and community leaders to always encourage and sensitize their people on the need to participate in the sanitation exercise. It is a culture that must be adopted.
Our agency will put modalities in place to pull down illegal structures built on drainages,”_ he said.
The 22 defaulters were mainly commercial motorcyclists and other commuters, the Magistrate, *Hon. Hannatu Yop Ashom*, said.
Some were convicted for maintaining dirty environments.
_“Compliance with the sanitation was very low, particularly as we went through the communities. The compliance was not what it should be. A lot of people claimed ignorance, saying they were not aware of the sanitation. But the announcement is everywhere, and it is well known that every last Saturday of the month is set aside for sanitation in the state.
So I do not think that is an excuse. More so, ignorance of the law is not an excuse. Nobody will stand before the court and claim ignorance that there is sanitation today. We did not regard that as an excuse,”_ she said.
According to her, _“if we do not have a healthy environment, we will not have healthy people in our communities.”_
She added that there is a need for stiffer punishment for defaulters and for the laws to be reviewed to provide appropriate penalties.
_“With the current punishment, people who commit these offences are more likely to perpetrate the same thing again. But with stiffer penalties, there is a greater likelihood that they will desist from committing the same offence,”_ she said.
(DEMOCRACY NEWSLINE NEWSPAPER 26TH JULY)
