Mallam Nasir Elrufai reintroduces monthly sanitation, plans plastic container ban

The Kaduna State Government has disclosed plans to bring back monthly sanitation exercises in line with its commitment to keep the state clean and safer.

It also said plans are in top gear to introduce electric tricycles to the Kaduna metropolis and ban plastic containers to reduce environmental pollution and flood.

The Administrator, Kaduna Capital Territory, Hazif Bayero, revealed this at a media briefing held at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House in the state capital on Thursday.

He noted that apart from bringing back the monthly sanitation exercise, the state government was set to dredge the River Kaduna in order to stem floods and easy flow of water as the rainy season approaches.

Bayero also said that ad part of the activities to mark the World Health Day in the state on Friday, there would be a sanitation exercise.

He said, “The sanitation will take place at Command Junction, Karji, Kawo, Rigasa, and Stadium Roundabout. To have a cleaner environment we would do sweeping, silting of drainages, litter control, and vegetation control.

“Friday is World Health Day with the theme; Investing in our Planet. Sustainability is a key aspect of city management and resilience. We have decided to come up with an initiative to clean up the city. We are looking into bringing back the monthly environmental sanitation without hindering movement may be between 6 am and 8:30 am.

“We feel this is necessary because in our communities we have stopped living like our brother’s keeper, we need to foster community relations and neighborliness. Its absence has caused a build-up of unhygienic. We are looking at legislation to ban plastic in our cities and use more sustainable products. We are looking at creating pedestrian-friendly walkways.

“We are looking at bringing in electric Keke napep produced here in Nigeria to replace the fuel type. These electric types don’t use fuel, they are covered, with doors to guard against the sun and a harsh environment.

“They are of grades, we are going to engage vigorously with the tricycling union to find a balance with the users. We are looking at the producers to see how they can produce pocket friendly.

“A mass transit plan has been developed, we are waiting for the partners to conclude their plan. It would work on schedules with proper bus stops. We have dedicated routes for them which only the buses can run, no other commercial bus can run the routes.

“We want to train the yellow and green commercial buses drivers on how to drive the city buses to minimise job loss. We are looking at introducing cycling lanes to encourage cycling as is done everywhere in the world.”