By TYAV SAM TYAV, Makurdi –
The General Manager, Benue State Environmental Sanitation Agency (BENSESA), Jennifer Nashima Daniel, has declared that tough times awaits the serial defaulters of the state sanitation laws.
The GM of the agency, who disclosed this in her office in Makurdi, said it was part of the measures to ensure a safer and cleaner environment for Benue people.
Daniel said the state government under the leadership of Governor Hyacinth Alia has vowed to go hard on serial defaulters of sanitation laws in the state.
The GM maintained that the agency would be enforcing environmental sanitation laws with a view to effecting behavioural change from the public and making Benue people practice regular clean up of their environment instead of waiting for the end of a month.
She insisted that “We are going to go down hard on the offenders, people who have deliberately refused to adhere to sanitation laws in the state. We will be employing and using all what it takes to ensure that people comply”.
According to her, what stalled the activities of the agency for a while was the absence of functional truck for service delivery when she took over as the GM of the Agency.
The GM noted “On resumption of my appointment as General Manager of BENSESA, I met a dead system. What I mean dead, I mean we had moribund trucks that have been broken down for a number of years, some 8 years, some 5 years, some 2 years, some months, but there was no functional truck for service delivery as at the time I took over as the GM”.
Daniels appreciated the Governor of Benue State for immediately releasing funds for the refurbishment of the trucks which she said they were currently fixing.
According to her, five of the trucks were already up and functional, stressing that the end point was to ensure cleanliness in line with the vision of Governor Alia’s administration to guarantee a cleaner and safer environment for Benue people.
She pointed out that the agency had already embarked on sensitization and inspection of premises to ensure that people comply with environmental sanitation laws in the state, promising to replicate whatever they were doing to the other 22 local government areas in the state and not limiting it only in Makurdi local government which is the state capital.
She promised to designate roll-on bins in busy areas where their trucks cannot move easily and also provide public mobile toilets to take care of open defecation and open urination.
Other challenges revealed by the GM includes: lack of befitting office accommodation as a major challenge, saying however that renovation work had already begun on the administrative block which was abandoned by the previous administration.
She commended Governor Alia for standing firm to ensure that BENSESA was remodeled and equipped for optimal service delivery.
