ENUGU (SUNDIATA POST)- The Enugu State Government says it will launch a campaign to address the menace of open defecation and poor sanitation in the state to prevent the outbreak of cholera and other infectious diseases.
Prof Sam Ugwu, the Commissioner for Environment and Climate Change, said this during the Commemoration of the “2024 National Environmental Sanitation Day”, in Enugu on Friday, with the theme: “Environmental Sanitation in the Era of Climate Change”.
Ugwu said that the campaign would include the monthly sanitation to promote environmental cleanliness in the state especially with the outbreak of cholera.
He said that the state government would construct and put in use permanent sewage disposal site at Nkwubor, and many other activities to ensure a clean and safe environment in Enugu.
The commissioner said that the ministry had engaged in environmental conservation, protection of its diversity, urban beautification, environmental health and safety.
On a climate change, he said that Nigeria’s inability in the past to firmly put into action a plan for the people, planet and prosperity as core development agenda, led to environmental degradation.
“It has also led to ecological disaster and depletion of our natural resources. The current administration in Enugu is empowering people and taking climate change action and protecting the environment,” Ugwu said.
In a remark, Mr Pius Ezeugwu, the Chairman, Enugu House of Assembly Committee on Environment and Climate Change, said that the importance of the event could not be overemphasised, as it dealt with climate change and sanitation.
Ezeugwu, a member representing Nsukka East Constituency, said that the state was among the five pilot states selected by a foreign organisation to plant palm trees, to address climate issues.
He, however, called on the people of the state to comply with the Environmental Protection Law recently passed by the State House of Assembly, to promote clean, healthy and climate friendly environment.
“We have taken a proactive measure in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change to secure our environment,” Ezeugwu said.
Delivering lecture on Sanitation and Climate Change, Dr Isaiah Abonyi, Senior Lecturer, Department of Environmental Health Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, said that Nigerians needed to be sensitised on dangers of climate change.
Abonyi said that the pattern of rainfall, humidity and grass outlay showed that all was not well for the environment.
“We now experience environmental degradation, flooding and others,” he said.
The senior lecturer called for personal hygiene and environmental sanitation, to promote healthy living, as well as shunning illegal felling of trees.
Proffering solution, he said that waste should be well disposed or recycled, while environmental health workers should be supported to carry out the task of sensitisation.
Earlier in a welcome address, Mr Mathew Abiah, the Acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, recalled that the Federal Government had on June 28, 2005, declared National Environmental Sanitation Day, to create awareness on proper hygiene practice for the prevention of communicable diseases.
Abiah said that poor sanitation was a major factor responsible for significant percentage of spreading of preventable communicable diseases in developing countries like Nigeria. (NAN)