The Enugu government has vowed to investigate and arrest individuals engaged in an illegal task force collecting revenue from scavengers in the state.

The secretary to the state government, Chidiebere Onyia, disclosed this on Tuesday in Enugu.

Decrying the activities of the illegal taskforce, Mr Onyia said the Enugu government would investigate the report and punish those parading themselves as members according to the provisions of the law.

He, however, acknowledged that the state government set up a committee through his office.

He explained that the committee was charged with reviewing some of the options that could help address activities of scavengers in the state as they pose a threat to the safety of the people.

“I want to let Ndi Enugu know that there is no task force that has been set up by the government of Enugu state around environmental matters.

“We are going to find out as a government who constituted this taskforce. We have tons of evidence as we are investigating who constituted this taskforce and where the revenue collected was paid into,” Mr Onyia said.

He therefore warned the public not to pay money to anyone or any task force team that claims to be working for the government as revenue collectors.

He said that the governor had directed that those funds collected illegally by the so-called environment taskforce be recovered immediately.

(NAN)