Freedom Ambassadors Organization yesterday urged the Edo State Government to channel its resources into providing modern sanitation equipment for the people. The group had sued the state government over movement restrictions during the state’s monthly sanitation.

Delivering judgment on the matter, Justice Isoken Erameh of an Edo State High Court Benin on March 26 ruled that the enforcement of a stay-at-home order between 7am and 10am on sanitation days violated citizens’ constitutional rights.

Speaking at a press briefing, Freedom Ambassadors Organization President Curtis Ogbebor berated the state government for insisting on appealing against the matter.

Ogbebor maintained that sanitation is the responsibility of the local governments, not the state government, adding that cleaning should be a daily affair and not monthly.

He said: “We wish to inform and educate the commissioner that it is the statutory duty and responsibility of local government councils to clear and maintain roads, drainage and sewage as entrenched in Schedule 4 of the 1999 Constitution.

“The commissioner, governor or any government agency cannot derogate from the powers and functions of local government councils and allocate their responsibilities to innocent citizens without first amending the Nigerian Constitution.”