The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has urged Gombe State residents to imbibe the culture of proper waste management to prevent environmental degradation like flooding.
The NESREA Coordinator in the state, Mr Adamu Saurayi, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Gombe on Monday.
He said that the call became necessary because many residents were in the habit of dumping solid waste in the drains, especially during the rainy season.
According to him, the spread of COVID-19 in the state is an additional reason residents need to properly dispose waste like used face masks to avoid putting others at risk.
Saurayi cautioned residents against using the rains as way of sweeping away wastes through drains, adding that such could lead to blockage of drains which could further result to spread of infectious diseases.
He noted that “from the onset of the rainy season, we have been receiving complaints on environmental issues, including poor disposal of wastes and we often move in to create awareness and ensure that our environment is not abused.
“We must protect our environment as our actions toward the environment may create serious issues like flooding and erosion, which are often avoidable in some instances through proper waste management.”
He called on communities to encourage their people to properly dispose solid wastes by designating refuse collection points for proper evacuation by relevant agencies.
He also called on the state government to build more refuse collection centres to encourage people to properly dispose, as well as evacuate wastes.
He said “if you tell someone not to dispose wastes indiscriminately; you must build a collection point where they should take wastes to. If this is not available, then the risk of abusing the environment will be high.’’
While commending the state government’s initiative of planting one million trees every year, the state coordinator said the trees planted under the initiative were growing well in several communities across the state.
He also called on the people to support government’s drive to resuscitate the environment by taking advantage of the rains to plant more trees.
