Taraba Officials Defend Proposed Sanitation Agency

Taraba State government says that the proposed Environmental Sanitation Agency Establishment Bill, if passed into law by the House of Assembly, will address the state’s environmental and sanitation challenges.

The commissioner for Environment and Climate Change, Aisha Barde, stated this during a public hearing on the bill held by the House of Assembly Committee on Environment at the Assembly Complex in Jalingo, the state capital.

Barde explained that the ministry is working to develop a holistic legal framework that will ensure proper synergy among relevant agencies and departments for effective environmental management and sustainable development.

She said the ministry should be tasked with supervising the agency’s activities to ensure effective monitoring, policy coordination, and enforcement of environmental regulations, thereby eliminating role conflicts and enhancing data collection and management.

“There will be no conflict of roles between the agency and existing departments, including the Department of Pollution Control, as the ministry has clearly delineated functions to ensure smooth operations,” she said.

Barde stressed that environmental sanitation cannot be separated from the ministry’s mandate, citing Taraba State Law, Cap 52 of 1997, which vests environmental responsibilities in the ministry.

Also at the hearing, the permanent secretary, Ministry of Rural and Urban Development, Mrs Abishag Dan Habu, said the ministry  aligns with the objectives of the bill, which aims to strengthen environmental sanitation, protect public health, and promote orderly physical development in the state.

She described the public hearing as timely and necessary, and that environmental sanitation is neither new nor unregulated in Taraba State.

Earlier, the chairman of the House Committee on Environment, Dr Tafarki Agbadu Eneme, assured the stakeholders that their submissions and observations would be carefully considered.

Eneme described sanitation as critical to public health and environmental sustainability, noting that the bill is key to creating a healthier environment in the state.