Fifty-eight persons were, on Saturday, arrested in various parts of Umuahia during Abia State’s February monthly sanitation exercise.
The majority of the defaulters were apprehended at the roadsides, while some few others were arrested while in the act of operating their businesses from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. by a government task force team and brought to a mobile court in High Court in Umuahia.
Fifty-one out of the 58 people arrested were cautioned and fined for being convicted of violating the Abia State Basic Environmental Law, and seven were pardoned and released on health grounds.
In an interview with the media after watching the exercise on Saturday, Abia State Commissioner for Environment Philomon Ogbonna stated that the state was formerly infamous for its filthy environment, but said that all that had changed since Governor Alex Otti came into power.
The commissioner, through the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr Ikechuckwu Oriuwa, expressed disappointment with the traders at Orie Ugba market who conducted business in an unclean environment even at the time of cleaning and called on them to modify their attitude.
He also warned hoteliers within the state against polluting the environment with waste products.
