From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
Ahead of this year world Environmental day celebration, the Kogi state Commissioner of the Environment and Natural Resources, Sanusi Usman Yahaya has admonished citizens of the state to brace up in complementing government’s efforts to tackle environmental challenges across the state.
The commissioner also charged residents of Lokoja and other major cities of the state to be prepared to buy waste bins and pay for the services of evacuation and disposal of their wastes .
Yahaya gave the charge at an interactive meeting with Shop owners, Housing Estates leaders and plaza managers held in Lokoja at the weekend.
The Commissioner noted that it has become imperative for the government to involve all stakeholders in environment management to pay for the services rendered in the collection and distribution of wastes , saying government resources has been dwindling.
He added that for a sustainable clean and healthy environment, landlords, shops owners and plaza managers should be ready to pay stipulated charges for the wastebins, services for the collection of the waste from premises and the disposing of the wastes at a designated sites.
He advised the stakeholders in the environmental management chain to know that the project of clean and healthy environment is a collective action that should not be left for government alone to shoulder the responsibility.
He disclosed that the modern method of waste management is capital intensive that requires public participation for a sustainable development of the society.
According to the commissioner” When we generate wastes , we must be ready to properly dispose it to avoid its negative result. We have wastes management laws and we must work collectively to ensure the laws operates for the benefits of the people.
” We have identified and looked at the data on key Estates within the city and business premises managers which we need constant dialogue on how best to tackle waste management using modern technology for the benefits of all which requires collective participation of the citizenry.
” Wastes generated must be kept in container and kept in appropriate location for evacuation to designate sites.”.He advised.
He called on the residents to buy the waste bins of different sizes said to be going for between N7,000., N14,000and and N24,000 which he considered affordable by the people.
In his contribution, a representative of Workers Village Housing Estate, Mr.Bayo Ilori commended the government for the initiative to making Kogi a clean and healthy environment asked Corporate Organisations to commit their corporation social responsibility to waste disposal within the city.
He called on the government to making payment of salaries of workers a priority so that workers will be willing to buy and pay for the services rendered for the wastes disposal.
