JS NEWS; PLATEAU STATE APC YOUTHS CLEAR HEAPS OF REFUSE IN JOS THIS MOORNING

Some youths in Plateau, under the aegis of All Progressives Congress (APC) Youth Online Forum, on Friday cleared refuse heaps in parts of Jos and Bukuru metropolis.
A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who covered the community service, reports that the youths, who wore APC T-shirts, took off from the old airport roundabout and moved to the Jos city centre.
NAN also reports that the youths evacuated refuse dumped on the major highway that traversed the capital city, and dropped same into a waste disposal truck.
Mr Makut Alfred, secretary of the group, who spoke on the exercise, said that it was part of efforts to keep Plateau clean.
Alfred regretted that heaps of refuse had piled up at various locations within Jos, saying that their presence had turned the city into an eyesore
“Aside turning the city to a huge dustbin, the abandoned refuse poses a serious health challenge,” he said.
Alfred said that the gesture was one of the group’s ways of supporting the Plateau government’s efforts to keep the state clean, and challenged other residents to contribute their quota toward a better environment.
“Instead of lamenting and criticizing the government, we should support the government because it can cannot do everything,” he said.
Alfred disclosed that the state government provided the tools and the waste disposal truck for the exercise, hinting that the community service would be a continuous one.
NAN reports that the Plateau House of Assembly, in July, summoned the environment commissioner over the uncollected waste dotting various locations in Jos and other cities in the state.
The commissioner, Abdullahi Abbas, while answering legislators’ questions, had blamed the development on firms that were engaged to evacuate waste, and promised to “do something” about it.