No fewer than 33 persons were on Saturday prosecuted at a magistrate court sitting in Ado Ekiti for not complying with the monthly environmental sanitation laws.

Perishable goods like plantains, oranges, yams, and other foodstuffs worth thousands of naira were also seized at Okesa and Bisi markets in Ado Ekiti.

The Chief Magistrate, Olubunmi Bodunde, said the culprits were guilty of various offenses leveled against them and therefore sentenced them to three months imprisonment each with an option of a five thousand naira fine.

While monitoring the exercise, the Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Tosin Aluko, frowned at the attitude of residents and market women who deliberately flouted the rules of the exercise.

She recalled that the ministry had recently invited the traders at Okesa and Bisi markets all in Ado Ekiti to a meeting with a warning that displaying of goods would not be allowed during the monthly sanitation exercise usually observed every last Saturday.

“We have been sensitising people through radio jingles to desist from contravening environmental laws.

“Getting to the market after the warning, we were shocked because we met more than five thousand people who came from different local governments to display their goods,” she explained.

The commissioner pleaded with all stakeholders in the state to support the efforts of the government aimed at nipping in the bud the poor attitude of people toward sanitation exercise.

Contributing, the Director of Environmental Health and Sanitation in the Ministry, Tunde Balogun, noted that the task force team in charge of the monthly exercise would not relent in arresting and prosecuting any culprit.

He said people should be conscious of keeping their environment clean by clearing their drains as well as doing other necessary things that are necessary.

“You do not need to wait until law enforcement agents push you around before you comply with the norms; the environment is for everybody, and whatever you put into it is what you get,” he said.

(NAN)