According to the information from Punch, no fewer than 300 individuals were arrested and prosecuted by a special court for violating sanitation laws in Kwara State during the monthly sanitation exercise held on Saturday.

The monthly sanitation, which runs for three hours between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. on the last Saturday of each month, saw offenders apprehended in Ilorin, the state capital.

Despite the arrests, the state government praised residents for the successful completion of the sanitation exercise in various towns and villages within and outside the state capital.

A statement by the Press Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Kamaldeen Aliagan, indicated that the Commissioner for Environment, Hajia Nafisat Musa-Buge, gave the commendation while answering questions from journalists at Checkpoint, along the Ilorin-Ogbomoso Expressway shortly after the completion of the exercise.

“Let me use this medium to express our delight with an increase in the level of compliance, by the good people of Kwara State, towards the successful exercise, most especially, the metropolis. I urge you all to sustain the tempo.”

The commissioner who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Alhaji Abubakar Ayinla, during the inspection of the exercise, however, expressed disappointment that despite government's enlightenment and campaign programmes, some people still flouted the sanitation laws in the state.

She said, “Despite the enlightenment programme and campaigns on radio and other electronic media, it is sad and unfortunate that almost 300 sanitation offenders were apprehended within the metropolis and subsequently charged to various mobile courts, during the exercise.”

The commissioner however implored the people of the state to strictly adhere to the three-hour sanitation schedule for cleaning their residential and business environment to sustain a clean and safe environment.

Musa-Buge also appreciated the mobile court judges, monitoring and security agents, transport unions and relevant bodies for their steadfastness in the discharge of their duties.