Awka – Residents of Anambra State have been advised to imbibe clean sanitation and environmental protection habits so that the issues of erosion and environmental degradation will be a thing of the past in the state.
The advice is coming on the heels of a statewide sanitation exercise planned by members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, serving across parts of Anambra State, for Saturday.
Anambra is one of the states of the federation worst hit by erosion and flooding and a recent report has described Onitsha, Anambra’s commercial hub, as the dirtiest city in Nigeria.
A key indices for the negative acclaim, was the poor refuse disposal habit of the inhabitants and the poor refuse management system by the government agency responsible- the Anambra State Waste Management Agency, ASWAMA.
At an awareness programme on the exercise on Thursday, held in Awka North Council Area of the State, corps members took to the streets to educate the citizenry on the need to maintain a healthy environment.
The NYSC members who moved round with the LGA NYSC band, displayed placards with various inscriptions such as ‘Good Health is Good Life’, ‘Health is Wealth, Prevention is Better Than Cure’, Protect Your Environment, Secure Your Future’, ‘Do Not Deface The Environment Through Indiscriminate Disposal Of Waste,’ among others.
The exercise also featured awareness on the need for tree planting so as to protect the ecosystem.
The President of Awka North LGA FRSC-CDS group and leader of the Corps Members, Comrade Andrew Aondolumun, explained that the initiative was necessitated by the observed poor sanitation practices across the state which has resulted in serious environmental issues for the inhabitants.
“If you look around, you will see that everywhere is littered with refuse. This is the major reason why there is so much disease which are actually preventable. That is why we are embarking on this awareness campaign to get a buy-in by the people into the business of managing our environment in a sustainable way. We feel obliged to do this because we want to impact our host communities in a positive way, as Corps members,” he said.
Another corps member who joined the awareness campaign, Emmanuel Chukwumba said they believe a healthy environment in the state will promote better health for all.
According to him, for the corps members to excel, they owe a duty to their hosts, to use the knowledge they garnered in the higher institutions to change negative perspectives and practices that jeopardize the health of the people.
For her part, another corps member, Deborah Omoregie, expressed the hope that the exercise will have a great impact on the people’s attitude towards environment protection.
