ABIA STATE ARRESTS 109-YEAR-OLD AKARA SELLER, 65 OTHERS FOR SANITATION BREACHES
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By: Muftau Fatimo
The Abia State Government on Saturday arrested a 109-year-old akara seller and 65 others for defaulting on the June monthly environmental sanitation exercise.
The state government also warned that it may resort to forceful enforcement of the exercise following low compliance by residents.
A total of 66 defaulters were arrested. Seven were discharged on health and student-related grounds, while nine were subjected to community service.
The elderly woman, Ma Chidinma Eluwa, who sells akara on Owerri Road, was discharged without paying any fine. She assured authorities that she would comply with the order next time.
After the exercise, environmental officials lamented that the poor turnout for the sanitation exercise was reversing years of progress and leaving markets buried under refuse, especially as the exercise had not been held for the past three months in the state.
Speaking after the exercise on Saturday, the Commissioner for Environment, Mr Philemon Ogbonna, represented by the Head of Population Control and Environmental Health, Mrs Happiness Akpulonu, said “brute force” may now be unavoidable.
She blamed the decline on months without sanitation activities, which she said had created piles of waste, especially at Orie Ugba Market and other major markets.
We were overwhelmed today. My team could not clear all the refuse we were meant to clear. Residents in Umuahia especially respond better to enforcement than advice. We may have to stop advising them and start enforcing compliance,” he added.
Mr Ogbonna also called on local government chairmen to mobilise their people on clean-up days and strengthen supervision.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the House Committee on Environment and member representing Ohafia South State Constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly, Hon. Kalu Mba-Nwoke, attributed the poor compliance to three months of inactivity.
He urged Abians to treat cleanliness as a daily responsibility, not just on declared sanitation days, stating, “Environmental sanitation must be continuous. Even without government directives, we should clean our surroundings because it is our duty.
“I want to call on the UCDA GM. The UCDA GM, whose office it is to take care of drainage cleaning, the Sultan, should take care of the East Sea Gates to shop right. The gutters there, the drainages there, are completely blocked”.
Speaking at Eket Street by Owerri Road, the leader of the Northern Community in Abia State and Chairman of the Northern Traditional Council for the South-South and South-East, Alhaji Yaro Danladi, reaffirmed the community’s support for the monthly environmental sanitation exercise initiated by the Abia State Government.
Eze Danladi said members of the Northern Community actively participated in the clean-up to demonstrate their commitment to the government’s environmental sustainability efforts and to promote a cleaner and healthier society.
He stated that the monthly sanitation exercise has evolved into a vital initiative requiring the support and participation of all residents, noting that maintaining a clean environment helps curb the spread of diseases such as malaria by eliminating mosquito breeding grounds.
He praised Governor Alex Otti for his commitment to advancing the state through people-centred policies and urged him to sustain efforts toward effective governance.
Danladi further called on residents across the state to take environmental sanitation seriously as a collective responsibility, stressing that active participation would greatly enhance public health and support the overall development of Abia State.
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