The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) says it is working to enhance compliance and enforcement of environmental laws in Gombe State and across the Northeast states.
Mr Charles Sharah, the North-East Zonal Director of NESREA said this in an interview on Monday, January 24, 2022, in Gombe, the state capital.
Sharah said that the agency would strengthen enforcement and compliance level of environmental laws by companies and individuals to ensure the state and region was not polluted.
According to him, the issue of pollution and littering will be given serious attention to ensure that the state remained clean.
He said since the environment played a major role in the survival of man, it was the responsibility of man to protect the environment too, hence, “more awareness drive and monitoring would be prioritised in this regard.’’
Sharah said the agency was engaging water factories, banks and other companies to ensure compliance with environmental laws while also sensitising them on proper waste management.
The zonal director noted that in the area of waste management, efforts would be geared toward ensuring that water factories take up their responsibilities in proper disposal of used sachets.
“Our major challenge is the littering of empty water sachets, this is the responsibility of the producers, consumers and communities at large to solve.
“How do we solve this, the state government should increase waste collection points for consumers to dump their wastes.
“I call on consumers and the general public to complement government’s efforts to keep the state clean.’’
According to him, the agency will further ensure the Extended Producer Responsibility where producers will be made to engage vendors to retrieve any wastes from their companies.
Sharah urged the state government, private companies and other well-meaning individuals to invest in the area of waste recycling as a measure to create jobs, boost revenue while cleaning up the environment.
He commended the effort of the state government at ensuring proper waste management that had kept the state clean.
By Peter Uwumarogie
