ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI , Bauchi –
Bauchi State government has flagged-off the fumigation of Bauchi metropolis against mosquito vector to reduce the rising cases of malaria infection in the state.
The exercise which will be carried out by the Bauchi State Environmental Protection Agency (BASEPA) in collaboration with the Bauchi State Agency for the Control of HIV /AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria (BACATMA).
The Director General of BASEPA, Dr. Ibrahim Kabir, disclosed these at a joint press conference held at the Agency’s headquarters in Bauchi on Saturday.
According to him, the exercise was directed by the governor, Sen Bala Mohammed who was recently confronted by an old man who complained to him on the high number of mosquitoes in the metropolis.
He said that the exercise will cost the Agency only N5 million to be done adding that it will take three days to be done.
He said: “On November 29th, 2020, the governor went on a condolence visit in one of the communities in Bauchi metropolis and he was confronted by one old man who complained to him about mosquitoes within the metropolis. Instantly, the governor gave us a directive that we have to prepare and fumigate the entire metropolis against malaria vector.
“We are going out today with all the modalities and framework in place to fumigate the entire Bauchi metropolis. It is part of our intention that if we are done with the metropolis, we will reach out to all urban centers in Bauchi State to fumigate them.
“The exercise will not just be done once, we plan to sustain it. For decades, either because of negligence or one problem or another, previous administrations were not able to carry out this exercise regularly.
“All we are doing is to make sure that the environment is habitable for the general public. It is our efforts to make sure that there is no outbreak of diseases because we put more emphasis on the preventive than the curative and that is why we emphasize the significance of environmental health and environmental health Officers in the state.
“Within the next three days, from today 23rd January to 25th, we will fumigate the 125 wards in Bauchi metropolis. We are using very little resources to achieve this, and we are going to do this with just N5 million.”
When asked on the effects of the chemicals in the people, Kabir assured that the exercise will not affect the health of the people in the state pointing out that “the chemicals are environmentally friendly, however, we will take all precautions to ensure that no one is affected.”