The Nasarawa State Government has arrested 61 people for alleged violation of the law against open defecation.

Mr Aliyu Agwai, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, made this known to journalists after the May sanitation exercise on Saturday in Lafia.

He said that 43 persons among those arrested were, however, released after complying with directive to build toilet in thier facilities.

”The remaining 18 who failed to pay N50,000 fine and could not comply to build toilets in their facilities were sentenced to two years and are currently serving jail terms,” Agwai said.

According to him, the state government has carried out a lot of sensitisation on open defecation, but some people still defecate openly even with the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari.

President Muhammadu Buhari had in November 2019 signed the Executive Order 009 to end open defecation by 2025 in the country.

Agwai commended residents of the state for their level of compliance to the exercise in spite of the ongoing party primaries.

He also urged the members of the public to sustain their level of compliance and continue to maintain personal and public hygiene to guard against outbreak of diseases.

Meanwhile,  A mobile court, handling environmental-related cases, prosecuted 21 persons for alleged violation of 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 the culprits accordingly to serve as deterrent to others.

The judge, Mr Abdullahi Lande, convicted and sentenced them to between six weeks to six months imprisonment each with option of fine of between N5,000 and N50,000