Taraba State Environmental and Sanitation Agency (TSESA) has commenced a massive drainage clearance exercise across the 16 local government headquarters and Jalingo, the state capital, as part of efforts to reduce the risk of flooding during the rainy season.
The agency has also begun spraying herbicides along major roads to clear overgrown bushes, improve environmental sanitation and enhance the safety of pedestrians.
Chairman of TSESA, Iliya Kefas Alhaji, disclosed this on Tuesday while taking journalists on an inspection tour of ongoing sanitation projects in Jalingo.
According to him, the exercise is being carried out simultaneously in all the 16 local government headquarters following the approval of funds by Governor Agbu Kefas.
He urged residents to support the initiative by disposing of refuse only at designated collection points to ensure proper evacuation.
“The governor, His Excellency Dr Agbu Kefas has already approved funds for the agency to conduct the cleanliness of the state, we have engaged thousands of youths, some for sweeping our streets, some for opening blockages inside drainages while others are for spreading herbicides by the roadsides.”
“Our job is a difficult one, it’s needs energy, power and determination, we have to do it, nobody can come here and do it for us, it is our state and it is our responsibility to make it clean,” Alhaji stated.
Residents of Jalingo have commended Governor Agbu Kefas for establishing the Taraba State Environmental and Sanitation Agency, saying the initiative has significantly improved environmental hygiene and the general appearance of the state capital.
Many of them appealed to the governor to sustain the sanitation programme, noting that Jalingo has not looked this clean in many years.
Speaking during the exercise, a resident of Mayo-Dasa, Francis Ikyur, told NATIONAL ACCORD correspondent that the clearing of blocked drainage channels would help reduce flooding in the area.
“The drainages here in Mayo-Dasa were totally closed up, fill up with sand, there was no water ways and that is the reason why we were having constant flooding anytime there is little rain, now, water ways have been open by the TSESA, no matter how it rains, the water will always have it way to pass,” he said.
