The Nation Newspaper

Tag: disposal

  • 13 jailed five months for indiscriminate waste disposal 

    A Lagos Magistrates’ Court yesterday sentenced 13 cart pushers to five months in prison with an option of N20,000 fine, for indiscriminate waste disposal.

    The Magistrate, Ogundipe Olayiwola, sentenced the cart-pushers after they were convicted of a one count charge of environmental pollution brought against them by the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC).

    The convicts were arrested early Tuesday at different locations for dumping refuse at unauthorised places.

    Hailing the magistrate, LAGESC’s Corps Marshal Daniel Isiofia said it was wrong for people to deface Lagos with refuse.

    Besides, he said such action could lead to health hazard.

    Isiofia appealed to residents to partner Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on his Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) by making use of refuse bins at strategic areas.

    He urged residents, particularly traders, to dispose their refuse at designated pick-up points and avoid dumping them on the median, roundabout, pavement, or road under construction.

    Isiofia said: “Lagos Island West district pick-up points include Jankara, Pelewura, Idumota in and out, Oluwole, Apongbon and PZ.”

  • ‘Stop indiscriminate refuse disposal’

    An environmentalist, Chief Paschal Oraekei, has advised residents of Anambra State, particularly traders, to desist from indiscriminate dumping of refuse.

    He spoke in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka.

    Oraekei urged the government to initiate more public awareness programmes on the desirability of having dirt-free and healthy environment.

    He noted that residents were fond of dumping  refuse indiscriminately, adding that the state’s environmental agencies should  curb the aberration.

    The environmentalist enjoined agencies to enforce the state’s environmental laws,  to deter people from engaging in indiscriminate refuse disposal.

    He said Anambra should not be associated with a filthy environment because of the calibre of its citizens.

    Oraekie said the government should deal with the people’s habit of littering their surroundings with refuse and dumping waste in drainage systems, motor parks, markets and unauthorised points.

    He said since the government had provided refuse bins and receptacles at strategic positions, it should, therefore, enforce extant sanitation laws.

    The environmentalist stressed that the government should not only be interested in putting in place proper waste disposal channels, it should also endeavour to promote the people’s health through a decent environment.

  • Abia govt gives ASEPA five disposal trucks

    The Abia State government has provided five refuse disposal trucks to the state’s Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) to clean the state.

    The trucks came when the state’s two major cities – Umuahia, the state capital, as well as Aba, the commercial hub – have been ravaged by heaps of refuse, raising fears about likely outbreak of an epidemic.

    At the handover of the trucks, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu said his administration was determined to ensure a clean state.

    Ikpeazu, who was represented by his deputy, Sir Ude Oko-Chukwu, said government’s determination to keep the state clean propelled his administration to buy three refuse compactor trucks, two roll-off trucks and four refuse buckets.

    He said that the present administration has also reorganized the agency to make it more effective, “We believe that with what we are doing that the agency would turn a new leaf”.

    The governor urged the agency to put the new materials to good use to enable them clean up the state, adding that government would provide more materials for them in due course.

    Receiving the trucks, the general manager of ASEPA, Okechukwu Apugo said that the agency is very happy to the new items, stressing that the governor has empowered them to do their job.

  • Council warns against indecent waste disposal

    The Head of Environmental Department (HOD) in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Abdulkarim Abdulrazaq, has blamed the improper disposal of waste and refuse in some parts of the council on the nonchalant attitude by some residents who do not care about their health.

    Abdulrazaq, who revealed in Kuje while speaking with reporters said despite the department’s effort in evacuating and keeping the environment clean, some residents do not comply with the sanitation rules and regulations.

    According to him, the leadership of the council is also trying its best in terms of creating awareness on proper waste disposal.

    He further explained that mobile court sitting in Kuje has convicted about 13 offenders of sanitation rules and regulations in the area, emphasising that sanitation exercise should be a matter of necessity which should be observed on a daily basis in every home.

    He warned residents against open defecation and non-provision of toilet facilities by some landlords in the area.

    “Landlords who build houses without toilet facilities have been warned to provide such facility, failure of which will result in prosecuting them. I advise residents to stop dumping refuse in gutters. They should join hands with the administration in the development of the area council,” he said.

  • AGF inaugurates committee on disposal of forfeited assets

    AGF inaugurates committee on disposal of forfeited assets

    The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), has begun moves to dispose of forfeited vehicles and other items the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) recovered from suspected criminals.

    The minister, last week in Abuja, inaugurated a committee on the matter. It is headed by NSCDC Commandant-General Ade Abolurin.

    The committee is expected to identify, verify and ascertain the conditions of the items and ensure that they are sold transparently and in accordance with laws.

    Adoke directed that the proceeds from the sale of the vehicles be deposited in the Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federation after 30 days without ownership claim by any person on any of the forfeited items.

    The minister noted that since the items were forfeited to the Federal Government on court orders, their disposal should begin in earnest to avoid further depreciation in their value.

    He said all the items forfeited to the Federal Government through a judicial process are regarded as public property since the proceeds from their disposal are to be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federation.

  • Judges get training on quick disposal of AMCON cases

    Judges get training on quick disposal of AMCON cases

    TO ensure prompt disposal of debt recovery cases nstituted by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court (FHC), Judge Ibrahim Auta, last week, issued a set of guidelines to aid the court’s judges in this regard.

    The guidelines contained in a document named: AMCON practice directions 2013, seek as a fundamental objective, to enable the court deal with AMCON cases “quickly and efficiently.”

    One of the innovative provisions of the practice directions is what it calls – AMCON track judge (a judge designated by the Chief Judge to hear AMCON claims/cases exclusively for a specified or indefinite period). There could be more than one of such judges in a division of the court.

    Under the 17-part practice directions, scheduled to take effect from March 1, AMCON track judges are required to give effect to its fundamental objective at every stage of an AMCON claim (case).

    The judges are also to be guided by the need to ensure swift disposal of such cases when exercising any power under the AMCON Act, FHC Civil Procedure Rules, the practice directions and any other rule and direction.

    The directions enjoin AMCON track judges to, in furthering the fundamental objective, engage in “active cases management”. As provided in Part Two of the directions, cases management requires judges to among others, encourage parties to cooperate with each other in the conduct of the proceedings, and identify the issues at an early stage.

    Judges are also required to decide promptly, which issues need full investigation and trial, and accordingly dispose of summarily, the other issues. They are to decide the order in which issues are to be resolved; help parties to settle the whole or part of a case and deal with as many aspects of a case as possible, on the same occasion even when not scheduled.

    Justice Auta inaugurated the practice directions on February 11 in Lagos, at the opening session of the Second Federal High Court Judges Forum, facilitated by AMCON. The forum afforded the judges the opportunity to closely scrutinise the new practice directions, the workings of the AMCON Act, among others.

    The Chief Judge advised the participating judges to apply the practices directions. He noted that although the document may be imperfect, its application will afford the users opportunity of realisation where amendment would be required in future.

    Auta gave tips to the judges on how ex-parte applications by AMCON should be handled. He said the plan was on to ensure that AMCON cases were entertained by judges in other jurisdictions outside Abuja and Lagos, where such cases are concentrated.

    He urged the judges to treat AMCON cases with dispatch. He said priority should be given to the cases filed by AMCON as being done to cases relating to fundamental rights, money laundering, rape and kidnapping, “because they affect the life blood of the nation.”

    Auta said the fact that AMCON was bankrolling the forum did not mean that “we (the judges) should close our eyes to all that AMCON files.”

    AMCON’s Managing Director, Mustafa Chike-Obi told the gathering that the forum was meant to help strengthen the operations of the court and make the judges’ work, as it relates to AMCON cases, easier. Chike-Obi said he hoped that the forum would become an annual event where legal issues would be discussed.

    He later spoke with journalists and stressed that the forum was not intended to seek special favour from the judges. He said it was meant to bring to their knowledge, issues that may not be clear about the workings of AMCON.

    “The workshop is a forum for FHC judges to discuss what they have learnt or seen about AMCON cases that have been disposed off. And for all of us to advance our knowledge of the AMCON Act, so as to ensure that justice remains to be served in cases involving AMCON.

    “We hope to expand this kind of fora to other areas of interest in the judiciary, so that we will have a continuous forum, where people could air their views and discuss how we can better the judiciary and Nigeria,” Chike-Obi said.

    He denied the possibility of such a workshop, organised by a potential party in cases before the court, influencing the minds of the judges reaching decisions. “Judges cannot be influenced by just a one-day seminar. I think the idea is just for the judges to discuss their experiences with each other and discuss areas, which affect their minds or areas that are not so clear.

    “So, generally speaking, I do not think this kind of a one-day seminar can affect judges to be biased against any opponent of AMCON. In any case, that is also not the intention of AMCON for the workshop,” Chike-Obi said.

    Former President, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) said the workshop was organised to acquaint the judges with the workings of AMCON, being an agency of government set up to specifically recover about N5 trillion bad debt.

    Some of the participating judges include Justices Okechukwu Okeke, James Tsoho, Mojisola Olatoregun-Ishola, Charles Archibong, Benedicta Molokwu, Ahmed Ramat Mohammed, Abimbola Ogie, Mohammed Sanni, Okon Efreti Abang, Ibrahim Buba, Mohammed Idris and Chukwujekwu Aneke.