40 residents jailed in Kwara for disregarding environmental law breaches.

Ilorin Magistrate court sentences 40 individuals to 3 months imprisonment each for breaching Kwara State’s Environmental Law on Friday.

The Ilorin residents, accused of various environmental offenses, including unauthorized waste disposal, land encroachment, and illegal scavenging, were arraigned and entered guilty pleas.

Presiding Magistrate Saidu Tunde Abdulkareem sentenced the defendants to 3 month imprisonment each, with an option of 50,000 fine, in line with the provisions of section 5 subsection 1- 4 of the State Environmental Law.

Thirty-one of the defendants were arrested for indiscriminate disposal of refuse, while nine were apprehended for illegal scavenging, the Court held.

Hon. Nafisat Buge, the State Commissioner for Environment and Forestry, said “the motive behind the continuous enforcement of the Environmental Law was to curb the outbreak of diseases, flood disaster and other dangers inherent in indiscriminate dumping of refuse.

The Ministry has established a task force to apprehend offenders violating environmental regulations, specifically targeting improper waste disposal, land encroachment, and unauthorized scavenging.

“The task force commenced enforcement on Tuesday, and they made some arrests. We have a Mobile Court here in the Ministry that prosecutes them just like what we witnessed today,” she said.

Buge added that the Ministry has since been sensitizing the public against such practices.

“Before now, the state House of Assembly had enacted a law that prohibits scavenging in the Ilorin metropolis. Their activities have been restricted to a government designated dump site around the Sokoto Aiyekale expressway،” she said.

“For indiscriminate dumping of refuse, we have gone round for physical engagement. We also embarked on media advocacy to sensitize our people on the need to stop indiscriminate dumping of refuse because of the danger inherent in such a habit.”

The Commissioner implored  residents of Ilorin to make it an habit of making use of the roro bins placed at strategic areas of the metropolis.

She said this process will continue for as long as people engage in unlawful dumping of refuse.

“We have done a proper assessment of our drainages, and we realized that the majority of these drainages are blocked as a result of improper dumping of refuse. We are disilting them, but we wouldn’t want such an act to continue.

That is why we are determined to have a healthier and cleaner environment in the state,” she added.