Flooding: Governor Yusuf Orders Refuse Evacuation From Kano Streets

By Olanrewaju Falayi

Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf has ordered the evacuation of refuse on Kano streets to avert flooding during the rainy season.

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A Statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sunusi Bature Dawakin on Friday indicated that Yusuf approved Emergency Refuse Evacuation Plan for immediate clearing of refuse heaps on the streets of Kano metropolis.

The Statement further stated that, “the Governor, who is concerned over the implications of garbage littering roads, said lackadaisical attitude of the immediate past administration towards environmental hygiene may cause the State unimaginable losses, resulting from flooding in the rainy season if major drainages blocked by garbage are not desilted immediately.

“Recall that the Governor has approved Operation Nazafa, a Task Force on Refuse Disposal, Evacuation of Drainages and Streets Cleaning composed of different stakeholder groups in the State.”

According to the Statement, Governor Yusuf, “described as unfortunate, the outright sale of the critical assets of the State’s Refuse Management and Sanitation Board (REMASAB) to family members and friends of former Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, under the cover of a dubious Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, making it difficult to achieve effective solid waste management.

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”They have sold all the critical assets including trucks belonging to REMASAB. We have no option than to hire tippers and other equipment to quickly clear the dumps from the streets in a bid to restore efficient environmental sanitation in Kano.

”We have identified major refuse dumping sites in the city and therefore categorized them into five zones for efficient and effective evacuation that will start soon. The operation will be carried out day and night until everything in Kano is cleaned up.”

Yusuf further urged the residents of Kano to cooperate with the officials who will carry out the refuse evacuation exercise in the coming days in order to avert flooding, pollution and health hazards associated with the poor environmental hygiene.

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