Franca Ochigbo, Abuja
ACTING Registrar, Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON) Baba Mohammed has urged the National Assembly to review the obsolete environmental health laws which had been in existence since 1958.
A statement by the Head Public Affairs Kehinde Openibo, Mohammed, said the continual use of the old law for the agency was slowing down activities as this law had existed since 1958 – He said there should be national legislation on this law.
He made this known during an oversight visit by the House Committee on Environment led by Johnson Ogbuma in Abuja. The visit is to ascertain the workings in the council and how effective service delivery is to members of the public.
Read Also: Agency trains 245 enumerators
Mohammed said the council had developed a benchmark where youths could be trained on skills acquisition, listing the five areas as cleaning services, waste collection, public health services and others as all these are within the mandates of the Council.
Again, the environmental Health Officer’s power of arrest is not for criminal purposes but for someone who may be down with an infectious disease and violates quarantine law. Environmental Health Officers (EHO) have the power to arrest such persons, adding that the same EHO you see at the first point of call whenever you come into the country, who takes your temperature, sometimes you may be asked to step aside, it is an arrest of a sort, it is a public health arrest.
Leave a Reply