In the first quarter of 2005, the then Executive Governor of Benue State, Sir George Akume (now Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF)), signed into law, the Benue State Environmental Sanitation Law, after a billed to that effect was passed by the 4th Benue Assembly. The environmental protection edict, handed down to the civilians, at the return to democracy in 1999, by the then military government was repealed. The law also created the Benue State Environmental Sanitation Authority (BENSESA), merging the health department of the Benue State Urban Development Board (BSUDB) and the Benue State Environmental Protection Agency.
Of particular note of the new development was the import of the law: To more effectively address environmental sanitation and public health issues in Benue State by maintaining a clean and healthy environment.
The new agency had a deeper role to play in achieving what it was envisioned to do: Promotion of proper sanitation and waste management practices to safeguard public health and create a sustainable environment.
The role of BENSESA, as envisioned, was beyond arresting people on Sanitation Days. The law armed the authority with a Mobile Court for the purpose of ensuring that all matters involving sanitation and the health of the Benue environment are speedily dispensed of; that is the authority must not necessarily go through the High Courts, which are already overwhelmed with both civil and criminal matters, in ensuring compliance with sanitation and environmental health issues.
Furthermore, BENSESA is empowered by the 2005 law of Benue State, which established it to acquire equipment – including earth moving equipment- and even take loans, where necessary, for the purpose of carrying out it’s functions in the overriding interest of the public.
Sadly, BENSESA, for too long has appeared to abdicate it’s responsibility, and had been more concerned with the immediate gains of trying people on Sanitation Days in the name of moving around during the hours of sanitation. The authority had also been at various times accused of arresting livestock that roam the streets of Makurdi, the state capital, coniving with their accomplice to trade them (livestock) off, even as it has no sustainable waste management plan, in its 20 years of existence – No waste management plant either, dumping refuse on the banks of River Benue either directly or by their agents.
Public offices, including the authority’s headquarters, have always left their environments more desired than reflects environmental sanitation and public health, with overgrown grasses. Blocked drainages are overlooked as residents continue to litter the environment with all kinds of waste unabated.
Suffice to mention that the Fr. Hyacinth Alia administration, in its policy statement, indicated its “unwavering dedication to fostering a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment for all citizens” of Benue State. The governor’s recognition that environment is a critical factor in public health, economic growth, and social harmony alludes to a determination to ensuring that urban and rural communities in the state are free from waste, pollution, and environmental hazards.
To achieve the governor’s lofty vision, innovation, community engagement, and strategic partnerships are required. It also requires the mindset and commitment of the chief driver of the governor’s vision of the environment. The appointment of Mr. Anta Igbato, as the Acting General Manager of the authority, is therefore viewed as strategic in rejigging the system for the achievement of desired goals.
Environmental sanitation or waste management is a huge business. For instance, a mosquito net full of used plastic bottles on the street cost not less than Thirty Thousand Naira (N30,000.00). Used plastic bottles are cheaper than metals (“iron condemn”). All these constitute waste materials in the environment. That means that by getting rid of waste in the environment, one makes money out of it.
Ordinarily, BENSESA should be a huge employer of labour and a money spinner. Imagine if you appoint one supervisor per street in High Level alone, to monitor waste collection, the number of people you would have taken off the streets? And that would ensure no waste on the street. Unfortunately, the authority still struggles to be seen to work, waiting on the government to acquire equipment, not enforcing environmental laws, as it still maintains casual staff, whose take home was nothing to talk about. Things like this should not be heard of BENSESA.
The task is enormous. That is why the governor is invited to go the whole hug: Constitute a board for the authority. This will place the authority in a better pedestal to deliver effectively on its mandate.
Mr. Igbaato, the new sheriff (at BENSESA), has revealed to TNT that he has come with a mindset: To Keep the Benue environment clean and healthy. He has started by clearing bushes in parts of the state capital. He will do well to take the aspect of environmental sanitation education seriously. Residents should know what the law requires of them respecting the environment.
He is also encouraged to go ahead and carry out the census of householders, institutions, and business premises in Benue’s urban centres, as he has planned, to enhance waste collection and management.
There is also the need to review the law establishing BENSESA, with the aim of strengthening it and providing for other aspects of environmental sanitation and safety that were hitherto left out in the existing law.
BESENSA can provide thousands of direct and indirect jobs, thereby attracting revenue to government. And it appears Mr. Igbaato is aware of the enormous task ahead of him, given the rate of his engagement with stateleholders. It is hoped that he will not be that BENSESA General Manager who remembers his role only on approved sanitation days.
But how far can he go? Only time shall tell.
