By Jako Keke, February 22,2026.
The (TSESA) has rolled out a comprehensive list of offences and penalties under its enabling law, warning residents and business operators across to comply strictly with sanitation regulations or face prosecution.
In a media brief signed by its Executive Chairman, Hon. Iliya Kefas Alhaji, and dated February 20, 2026, the Agency outlined key provisions aimed at promoting environmental safety, public health and orderly development in the state.
TSESA stated that any person establishing or operating facilities such as cinemas, supermarkets, beer parlours, department stores and petrol filling stations must provide adequate public conveniences for staff and customers.
The Agency stressed that no licence or operational approval would be granted to any individual or entity that fails to meet this requirement.
Citing Section 17 of the law, the Agency prohibited the establishment or operation of beer parlours within a 500-metre radius of government property, police stations, hospitals, schools and places of worship.
Defaulters, upon summary conviction, risk being ordered by the court to remove the facility in addition to other penalties prescribed by law.
Shop owners were also cautioned against playing music or any mechanical sound at volumes capable of constituting public nuisance.
The law further mandates that the sale of traditional medical herbs, drugs and other medicinal products must comply with approved sanitary and regulatory standards. Vendors selling suya are required to provide enclosures as specified by Agency officials.
Individuals selling newspapers and magazines on the streets or operating house-to-house are required to register with the appropriate authority as recognised news vendors. Failure to comply attracts a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month upon conviction.
The Agency warned livestock owners against allowing cattle, sheep or goats to roam freely within urban areas. Offenders, upon conviction, are liable to a fine of Fifty Thousand Naira (₦50,000) or imprisonment for one month.
TSESA noted that any person who contravenes provisions of the law for which no specific penalty is stated would, upon conviction, face a fine of Five Thousand Naira (₦5,000) or imprisonment for up to one month.
Meanwhile, at its maiden stakeholders’ meeting held in Jalingo, the Agency resolved to reintroduce the monthly environmental sanitation exercise to be observed every last Saturday of the month.
It also directed that banks, hotels, recreational centres, motorists, tricycle operators, shop owners, residential householders and petty traders must pay monthly sanitation fees.
The Agency warned against encroachment on public spaces and road frontages across the state, announcing plans to provide incinerators and waste bins at designated points within towns across the 16 local government areas for proper refuse collection.
Commercial vehicle operators and motorcycle riders were further advised to procure bin carriers and fix them in their vehicles and tricycles to support waste management efforts.
The Agency called on residents, business operators and livestock owners to support the renewed sanitation drive, describing compliance as critical to building a cleaner and healthier Taraba.
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