The Bauchi State Commissioner for Environment and Housing, Honorable Hamisu Muazu Shira has given a 3 week ultimatum to the Management of the State Environmental Protection Agency (BASEPA) to keep the state clean.
The Commissioner gave the ultimatum at a closed door meeting with the Management of the agency held at its headquarters in Bauchi.
Honorable Muazu shira said the ultimatum became necessary due to the state of illegal dumping of refuse in major streets of the state.
He said, during the 3 weeks period, the agency must work hard with the support of critical stakeholders to tackle the situation thereby ensuring improvement in keeping the state clean.
“My emergency meeting with you today is urgent; we have a lot of complaints from people on refuse collections, with the appointment of new Director General, I give you 3 weeks ultimatum to address the issue and see possible improvement.
“His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, Kauran Bauchi, has a lot of expectations from us to see what we can do, and we must to do, it we can’t afford to fail him”, Shira insisted.
The Commissioner tasked the appointed Director General of the environmental agency to come up with new reforms and strategies in order to enable the state government free resources for the execution of environmental projects.
He expressed concern over the attitude of some unpatriotic citizens of the state who engaged in sabotaging the efforts of the state government in ensuring effective environmental management.
Honorable Hamisu Shira stressed the need for all and sundry to join hands in the ongoing campaign in the state against illegal dumping of refuse on streets or other unauthorised areas.
“It is an insult, at any official assignment people always raised questions about refuse collections in Bauchi, it was embarrassment, but we must put stop to it.
“I’m also aware about saboteurs; people are sabotage our plans for keeping Bauchi clean, they will not succeed, we have taken the necessary steps to ensure we overcome the challenges associated with refuse collections.”
The Commissioner therefore tasked people of the state to use the waste dumping designated areas to dump their waste.
He said unnecessary dumping of refuse will make the city more vulnerable to diseases, especially during the raining season.
The newly appointed Director General of BASEPA, Dr Ibrahim Kabir assured the commissioner of the total commitment of the agency to work round the clock to achieve the set objectives.
According to him, the agency will seek partnership with relevant stakeholders to keep the state clean so as to maintain its image.
