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The Abia State Government says its house-to-house sanitary inspectors visited about 4,500 premises in 85 communities across the state in August alone.
The state government also warned sanitary inspectors against using their positions as an avenue to extort money from the public.
The Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, disclosed this on Monday at Government House, Umuahia, while briefing the press on the outcome of this week’s State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti.
He said the state government had made progress in sanitary inspection following the re-introduction and launch of the programme across the 17 LGAs in August.
The commissioner cautioned the sanitary inspectors not to use their positions or offices as an avenue to extort money from citizens, but to insist only on the payment of established environmental default fines.
He further informed that, in line with the state government’s decision to go green due to the environmental benefits involved, the Abia State Executive Council had approved a statewide tree-planting campaign to reduce erosion and related challenges.
Kanu, who noted that the state is working round the clock in several parts of Aba and Umuahia to ensure that blocked drains are cleared to prevent flooding, urged Abia residents to free their drains in view of NiMET’s flood alert.
Contributing, the Commissioner for Environment, Mr Philemon Ogbonna, observed that sanitation and inspection services had been moribund but have now been restored by Governor Otti, and appealed to traditional rulers and other community leaders to support the initiative.
