168 Sanitation Offenders Pardoned In Bayelsa

The Chairman of the Bayelsa State Environmental Sanitation Authority, Chief Abel Ebifemowei, says the board granted pardon to 168 defaulters arrested during last monthly sanitation exercise.

Speaking with our correspondent in Yenagoa on Wednesday, Abel said that henceforth, any defaulter arrested by the authority would face prosecution no matter how highly placed the person might be.

He explained that a total of 168 defaulters were arrested and 11 vehicles impounded during the exercise, saying that most of the arrested persons were apprehended while loitering or hawking during the exercise.

According to the chairman, gone are the days when people will be loitering about during sanitation hours.

Abel said those arrested and the vehicles impounded were however, released after they were cautioned.

The chairman warned that anyone arrested in future sanitation exercises would be made to face the law to serve as deterrent to others, adding that he would not play politics with the health of Bayelsans.

To this end, he said the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Kate Abiri, had assigned Magistrates’ Courts to handle cases in Yenagoa and its environs.

He urged Bayelsans to hold the cleanliness of their environments high, emphasising that cleanliness was next to godliness.

While commending the State Government for providing some vehicles for the board, the chairman, however, appealed for more operational vehicles to facilitate the authority’s job.

He revealed that the company had employed over 15 professional environmentalists from the Bayelsa State College of Health Technology, Otuogidi in Ogbia to assist the board on environment-related issues.

The chairman appealed to members of the public to cooperate with officials of the authority to make Bayelsa an epidemic-free state.