109-Year-Old Akara Seller Among 66 Arrested as Abia Cracks Down on Sanitation Defaulters

• A 109-year-old akara seller was among 66 people arrested during Abia State’s monthly environmental sanitation exercise, as the government warned it may adopt tougher enforcement measures over poor compliance by residents.

The Abia State Government on Saturday arrested a 109-year-old akara seller and 65 other residents for allegedly violating the state’s monthly environmental sanitation exercise.

The elderly woman, identified as Ma Chidinma Eluwa, who sells akara along Owerri Road, was among the 66 people apprehended during the exercise. However, authorities later discharged her without imposing any fine after she promised to comply with future sanitation directives.

According to government officials, seven of the arrested persons were released on health and student-related grounds, while nine others were assigned community service.

The Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Philemon Ogbonna, represented by the Head of Population Control and Environmental Health, Mrs. Happiness Akpulonu, expressed concern over the low level of compliance across the state.

She warned that the government may resort to stricter enforcement measures, including the use of force, if residents continue to ignore sanitation directives.

“We were overwhelmed today. My team could not clear all the refuse we were meant to clear. Residents, especially in Umuahia, respond better to enforcement than advice. We may have to stop advising them and start enforcing compliance,” she said.

Officials blamed the poor turnout on the suspension of sanitation exercises over the past three months, which they said had resulted in huge piles of refuse in several markets and communities.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Environment, Hon. Kalu Mba-Nwoke, also urged residents to see cleanliness as a daily responsibility rather than something done only during government-declared sanitation days.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Northern Community in Abia State, Alhaji Yaro Danladi, commended Governor Alex Otti for promoting environmental sustainability and called on residents to actively participate in keeping the state clean.