By Joy Odigie
Two hundred and forty-five persons were convicted by two separate Mobile Courts on Saturday in Benin for violation of the state’s Sanitation and Pollution Management Law No 5 of 2010.
The two courts sat at Ramat Park and Sapele roads within Benin metropolis.
Mr Samson Erhaze, Senior State Counsel, Edo ministry of Justice and Mr Plus Oiwoh, Head of Legal Services, Edo Ministry of Environment, gave these statistics to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin.
The counsels said while some of the offenders were convicted for violation of sanitation, others were convicted for wandering and obstructing sanitation officials from discharging their duties.
Erhaze said the court, which sat at Ramat Park, convicted 52 of the 58 persons arraigned while six of them were discharged.
“The accused were either sentenced to three days imprisonment or pay N2, 000 fines as option,” he said.
While Oiwoh said that 193 of the 210 alleged offenders arraigned were convicted by the mobile court, which sat along Sapele road in Benin.
Compliance to the monthly sanitation, which holds every last Saturday of the month, was low within the Benin metropolis.
It was observed that human and vehicular movements were heavy during the period of the exercise on major roads in the city.
But the Director of Edo Waste Management Board, Mr Ehon Geoffrey, described the sanitation as a huge success.
“Offenders were prosecuted at mobile courts to serve as deterrent to others.
“We went round different markets and locations to ensure that people complied with the monthly exercise.
“We also ensured that the wastes were properly disposed off from dump sites in different markets and other strategic locations in the city,” he said.
