Environmental health officers have been tasked on enforcement of the Public Health Law in every local government area, to curb flooding across the country.
The Registrar, Environmental Health Council of Nigeria, Yakubu Baba, gave the charge, during a news conference in Abuja, following the alert by the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency, NIHSA, that about 178 councils were within the high probable flood risk areas.
He added enforcement of the law, through the provision of necessary sanctions and fines, would make the people and communities take responsibilities for their action and inactions.
The Registrar said the minimum sanctions for violators of the law as payment of 500,000 naira fine, or six years imprisonment.
He also listed some of the environmental health offences as indiscriminate waste disposal, dumping of refuse in drainage, among others.
According to him, the measure will reduce mortality and morbidity, and also prevent collateral damage as a result of flooding in Nigeria. He attributed flooding and its consequences on citizens across the country to negligence of environmental health services by local and state governments.
