POOR ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION PRODUCT OF SOCIETAL FAILURE - FCT MINISTER

The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has blamed the poor sanitary condition and environmental degradation in our communities on indiscipline and the failure of the society to the do the needful.

The Minister dropped this hint on Saturday while flagging off the Households and Community based sanitation exercise at Kurudu, a suburb of Abuja, in the Abuja Municipal Area Council. 

Malam Bello reiterated that if the society including the institutions carries out their statutory duties professionally and diligently, the issue of dirty environment wouldn’t have arisen.

The Minister emphasized that if the Town Planners and other professionals involved in city planning have done the planning well by providing spaces to dump refuse, the people would have not been dumping refuse by the road side or road dividers. 

He pointed out that our daily dirty habits and lack of effective enforcement has also contributed immensely to the poor sanitary condition.

Malam Bello remarked that every aspect of the society have a role to play in order to keep the entire environment clean as well as green; and therefore called for holistic change of attitude as the government cannot come to clean our houses us.

According to him, “unless we tackle all these and change our attitude, we would continue to flounder in dirty which of course is unacceptable to his Administration.” 

The Minister charged the residents in the Abuja Municipal Area Council to go extra mile to be exceptionally clean, because the Council hosts the Federal Capital City, Mr. President, members of the National Assembly as well as the members of the diplomatic corps.

His words: “If any Area Council could afford to be dirty then certainly it is not AMAC. The ‘Clean and Green’ exercise is unique in its totality as it carries two messages at once, cleaning and greening.”

Malam Bello noted that the community based approach to environmental sanitation will lead to a more realistic and sustainable effort in maintaining the environment and thus enjoined the Area Council Chairmen, Traditional rulers and leaders of the various communities to organize their communities to tackle the issues of refuse littering all over the Territory to ensure a clean and healthy environment.

Speaking earlier, the Minister of Environment, Hajiya Amina Mohammed who was represented at the occasion by the Director of Special Duties in the Ministry, Engr. Okunnu Otosin Kehinde expressed happiness over the collaboration of FCTA with the Federal Ministry of Environment on “Environmental Sanitation”, to ensure the provision of clean environment for healthy living in the Territory, and assured of her strong commitment to make the collaboration sustainable.

The Minister stressed that environment of filths and dirt constitutes so much public health hazards to the people and therefore called for concerted efforts to rid our habitats of dirt.  

Welcoming guests to the occasion, the Chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council, Mr. Micah Jiba thanked the Minister for introducing the Household and Community Sanitation exercise; adding that it would go along way in reducing incidences of avoidable diseases in the Territory.

The FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye, the Executive Secretary of the FCDA, Engineer Adamu Ismaila, several directors of the FCT Administration and the traditional rulers of Karu and Karshi also attended the flag-off ceremony.

Muhammad Hazat Sule, FCAI

Deputy Director / Chief Press Secretary,

Saturday, March 5, 2016.