The deteriorating face of Sokoto

Heaps of rubbish overwhelm many areas in the Sokoto metropolis, notably Maituta Road, Dan Fili, Kwandawa, Old market and Old Gusau garage among others. In some of these areas, the garbage has virtually taken over roads and often caused auto accidents.It is worse when it rains as all drainages are blocked making flood a commonplace […]

Heaps of rubbish overwhelm many areas in the Sokoto metropolis, notably Maituta Road, Dan Fili, Kwandawa, Old market and Old Gusau garage among others. In some of these areas, the garbage has virtually taken over roads and often caused auto accidents.
It is worse when it rains as all drainages are blocked making flood a commonplace occurrence. The situation has left many feeling the threat of possible outbreak of diseases following the unsanitary condition of these areas.
The State Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko during the last Eld-el-Fitri Sallah homage to Sultan Muhammad Abubakar, expressed concern over the deplorable condition of the metropolis which he attributed to indiscriminate dumping of refuse by the people.
“Sokoto city is now riddled with filth mostly due to the bad habit of the people of the state and this has to be stopped as government would no longer condone such acts,” Wamakko had warned.
In his response, the Sultan had also chided some residents for their lukewarm attitude towards refuse disposal which he noted was a contributing factor to the poor sanitary condition of the metropolis.
Mallam Ibrahim Adamu Tudun Doki, Executive Director Community Centre for Development, CDC, an NGO working on environment, described the situation as unhealthy and embarrassing.  
“This was a state that was one of the best in terms of cleanliness. Government and individuals need to do something about it. We need to cultivate the culture of cleanliness,” he stated.
He expressed worry that government departments and agencies responsible for the environment were not doing enough. He called for mass campaign on environmental sanitation in the state so that households would imbibe the required culture as government alone cannot do it.
Government agencies  responsible for the environment include the  Sokoto State Ministry of Environment, the State Environmental Protection Agency, SEPA,  the Committee for Monthly Environmental Sanitation and  the Committee on Removal of illegal Structures and Beatification. But in spite of all these organizations the heaps of waste keep growing.
Commenting on the situation, Malam Kasimu Yabo of Ministry of Environment noted: “All these agencies are playing their roles in the sector but most of the problems are with the private companies and individuals. You will discover that most of the private companies we have in Sokoto do not participate in the monthly environmental sanitation exercise despite various invitations sent to them to come and join us in this exercise.
“On the part of the individuals, you discover that it becomes a problem for somebody just to dispose the refuse in the designated places; they will rather dispose refuse either in the gutter or on the road.”
He added: “Refuse evacuation is an exercise which involves some stakeholders and every stakeholder has a clear responsibility. Unless such responsibility is disposed, the issue remains a bottleneck. So unless these stakeholders who include government and its agencies, the private companies and individuals play their own roles, we will continue to have problems of refuse within Sokoto city.”
But there have been complaints from people in the metropolis over inadequate dumping sites and bunkers. It was alleged that some politicians have taken over some lands meant for dumping sites and built structures, especially shops ,on the sites.
On these, Yabo said: “I must admit that the present waste disposal sites are not enough. We are all aware that the city is expanding, we need to have more.
He added that some of the existing dump sites were taken over by some people and there was no alternative provision.
“It is a serious problem. So at the end of the day there were indications that there may be crisis and we were directed to stop the move.
“If you don’t have a place in your home for that and the government is trying to provide a space for you outside your home so that you will be able to deposit the refuse, people should appreciate it but you discover that in some areas, when you are trying to create that refuse point for the use of the community, they will start complaining and reporting the issue here and there, that they don’t want that to be sited in the area.”
Yabo asserted however that they are making plans to increase the refuse disposal points adding that government plans to make adequate provision for the sites.
Part of the target as disclosed recently by the Commissioner for Environment Muhammadu  Jabbi  Kilgori  was to ensure that no refuse stays at a particular place for 12 hours.
He said there are major places where concrete bunkers are needed and that they are working on expanding it from 10 centres to 30.
The commissioner also said they would put in place two categories of waste bins to serve residential and commercial places such as marketplaces, academic institutions and hospitals where larger volumes of waste are generated on daily basis.
The recent introduction of Sanitation Mobile Courts during the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in Sokoto is said to be part of moves towards achieving a clean Sokoto.
Chairman Task Force on Environmental Sanitation, Beatification of Sokoto City/Environs and Removal of Illegal Structures, Squadron Leader Aminu Bala Sokoto said people have come to   see the realities of the exercise.
Bala Sokoto noted improvement in the level of compliance with the environmental sanitation laws and called on the people to sustain it.
“If you compare last month and this month, you will see that there are changes. Last month few people cared to come and participate in the exercise.”
He stressed the determination of the Task Force towards ensuring strict compliance with the laws.