An Environmental Sanitation Mobile Court in Kuje Area Concil of the FCT on Saturday sentenced 22 offenders to one week imprisonment each over sanitation offences.

Magistrate Taiye Bello, however, gave the convicts an option of paying fines ranging between N500 and N1,000, depending on the nature of offence committed.

He had, however, discharged five of the 28 offenders brought before the court on the ground that the prosecution had failed to establish a case against them.

The magistrate had also discharged one of the offenders on the ground that she is a minor, and he had cautioned her against being arrested for the same offence in the future.

Speaking on the October month’s environmental sanitation exercise, an official of Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), who asked for anonymity, had expressed dismay over the level of compliance in the council.

The official blamed the poor level of compliance on the Kuje Area Council authorities, and accused the council officials of failing to adequate mobilise residents for the exercise.

“It is not proper that residents were going about their normal businesses when they were supposed to be cleaning their environments.

“The council has also not fulfilled its own part of the exercise, because refuse dumps across the areas visited are still awaiting evacuation,’’ he said.

The AEPB official urged the council to devote more time to the exercise in the interest of Kuje residents.

“Most of the refuse dumps appeared to have stayed too long without evacuation, and this is very harmful to the health of residents,’’ he said.