High Compliance Marks July Monthly Environmental Sanitation Exercise in Abia
The July edition of the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in Abia State recorded a high level of compliance, with residents and businesses across the state, particularly in Umuahia, the state capital, actively participating in the exercise.
A monitoring team from the Guide of Online Media Editors and Publishers of Nigeria (GOMEP-NG), which monitored the exercise in Umuahia, observed widespread compliance by residents, especially in major markets, motor parks and business areas within the city centre.
The team recorded full compliance at the popular Orie Ugba Market, Ishi Gate, Okigwe Motor Park, Rivers Joy Transport Park, Good Is Good Motors Park and the newly constructed Nnenna Otti Bus Terminal, as traders, transport operators and businesses suspended activities to participate in the sanitation exercise.
Major roads and streets within the city centre, including Aguiyi-Ironsi Boulevard, Ishi Gate, Umuwaya Road, Azikiwe Road and Ikot-Ekpene Road, were largely deserted, with only vehicles on essential duties permitted to move during the exercise.
At the Umuahia Tower axis leading to the Old Railway Station, officials of the Ministry of Environment and the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) were seen sealing business premises that failed to comply with the sanitation exercise, while several defaulters were arraigned before the Mobile Sanitation Court for violating environmental sanitation regulations.
The GOMEP-NG monitoring team also observed that the Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with ASEPA, deployed refuse collection trucks and tippers to evacuate waste generated during the exercise, preventing the waste from finding its way back into drainage channels or littering the environment.
Speaking on behalf of the Abia State Government, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Ikechukwu Chidozie Oriuwa, commended Ndi Abia for the impressive level of compliance.
He said the success of the July sanitation exercise demonstrated that residents were embracing the state’s vision of promoting a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
Oriuwa further disclosed that the government was considering the establishment of a Neighbourhood Environmental Watch initiative to encourage communities to take ownership of environmental sanitation and ensure their surroundings remained clean beyond the monthly government-supervised exercise.
He urged residents to sustain the culture of cleanliness, noting that maintaining a clean environment is a collective responsibility essential for public health and the overall development of the state.
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