BREAKING: Government bans the use of charcoal

The Nasarawa state government has banned the use and sale of charcoal in the state to protect the environment.

Mr. Aliyu Agwai, permanent secretary of the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, announced it on Saturday when speaking to journalists in Lafia.

He said the charcoal production process is harmful to the environment by destroying the climate and increasing global warming.

Meanwhile, Agwai noted that burning charcoal, in particular, would produce harmful emissions.
Cutting down trees can lead to the loss of habitat for animal species, which can harm ecosystems.

“Almost all land animals and plants live in forests and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes,” he observed.
e sell and use charcoal for abstention in order to avoid prosecution for violation.

He commended the state’s residents for the level of compliance with the environmental sanitation awareness program.

“Usually every last Saturday of the month is reserved for the sanitation exercise, but we brought it back to today because of the Christmas celebration,” he added.

Agwai said all roads to the state were blocked to prevent motorists from other states from passing but were opened after the medical exercise.

“We only allowed those with permission from the relevant ministry, or on essential services to pass and move around during the exercise,” he said.

Meanwhile, a mobile court, handling environmental-related cases, has prosecuted 32 persons suspected to have violated environmental sanitation laws in Lafia.

The Prosecutor, Mr Abubakar Mohammed, who is also a Chief Environment Officer, told the court that the suspects were transacting their private businesses while the sanitation exercise was in progress.

Mohammed said that the offences violated Section 9(2), of the state Environmental Sanitation Law.
He urged the court to sanction them accordingly to serve as a deterrent to others.

The Judge, Mr Abdullahi Lande, convicted and sentenced them to six months imprisonment respectively with the option of a fine of between N5, 000 and N50, 000 respectively.