Borno Govt. spends ₦600m on sanitation

The Borno Government, on Friday, it spent about ₦600 million on the procurement of sanitation equipment to promote healthy environment in the state,  Nasiru Surundi, the Sole Coordinator, Borno State Environmental Protection Agency (BOSEPA), disclosed this in an interview  in Maiduguri.

Surundi said the money was expended on the purchase of high quality sanitation equipment, including 400 thousand chemical prayers, vapour, hand hygienes, excavators and propertioners.

Others included hose drop stations, hydrofoamers and bodcut machines, with part of the amount spent on diesel.

He explained that the aim of the agency was to ensure healthy, clean and hygienic environment.

He attributed some of the challenges of the agency to negative attitude of residents towards environmental issues ranging from indiscriminate littering to open defecation, among others.

The coordinator said enabling laws will soon be established to arrest and prosecute individuals and corporate bodies which engaged in environmental pollution in the state.

According to him, the laws would prescribe stiffer punishment for those who failed to participate in sanitation exercises in their various homes in the state capital.

“Keeping the environment clean is a collective responsibility of all as it is part of the provision of any religion.

“Therefore, residents must adhere strictly to cleanliness of their environment to prevent outbreak of diseases like cholera, malaria and typhoid fever, among others,” he said.

(NAN)