By Godwin-Maria Utuedoye
A holistic approach to environmental sanitation is to ensure the cleaning and maintenance of public spaces such as streets, markets, hospitals, water channels, and other areas to ensure a clean and healthy environment for residents.
For a concerned leader, environmental sanitation compliance should not only be observed only on the major roads with touts, street urchins or with neatly dressed environmental officials who does not understand their roles of thoroughly sensitizing and educating residents on the right things to do and why their environs must be kept clean.
Creating awareness periodically and inspecting streets, drains and other water channels regularly will help to know what remedy and steps to take to caution unforseen environmental challenges that may come in the future. Again, constant environmental education, awareness creation and sensitization campaign will help to reshape the masses and broaden their environmental senses, but over the years, in Ughelli Local Government Area for example and other local government areas, the same method and the same approach is repeatedly apply every year.
It has become a ritual of only enforcing a sit at home between the periods or hours of 7am till 10am. Residents are now given the impression that the last Saturday of the month some “persons” will come from no where to come and clean the streets, clear the dirts or clear the drains, so they stay at home between these hours and thereafter, life continues.
Drains are blocked, water channels are covered with debris. Refused are disposed along streets, water from septic tanks (soakaway), bathrooms or kitchens are channeled into the roads and public drains without adequate supervision or actions from council health environmental officers.
With the lack of proper education and supervision by environmental officials who have been overwhelmed by corruption and get rich quick syndrome, residents have lack the sense of cleanliness and importance of clean environment, believing that no laws will hold them accountable.
This is currently a challenge as many streets and water channels are blocked, refused dumped indiscriminately and leading to poor sanitation and potential health hazards in no distant time.
It suffices to say, that abandoning and leaving environmental matters in the hands of charlatans, touts and environmental officials who does not understand their role in the society, is not and will never be the best approach to tackling such an important sector that deal with health.
It has become a custom in most of the places in Ughelli and environs as well as other local government areas that on environmental sanitation day, people who are suppose to be at their homes are now hired, paid by the government and environmental officials to help harassed, beat, intimidate and to prosecute any violators or offenders. Ironically, in a civilized clime, the approach to this will be different as the offender will be made to understand in a calm and peaceful manner before he or she is prosecuted according to the laws of that land so that in future they will not be cut in such act.
As a Journalist monitoring the sanitation exercise in Ughelli some months back, a tout allegedly employed by head of the environmental officers stopped me in company of some police operatives and vigilantes from the Ughelli A’ Division and attempt to harass me as they told me they are not aware that journalists are suppose to come out to monitor the exercise. This is a tout that is not on any form of official duty. It took the intervention of a colleague who was at the scene also monitoring the exercise, else I would have been either beaten or intimidated by the touts.
Most recently, the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly was allegedly embarrassed during environmental sanitation exercise in Ughelli by touts and was delayed until the intervention of the local government chairman.
The question is, are touts ghost that will not stay at home to observe and clean their environments? Why are streets urchins commissioned to barricade roads and extort residents? Have they clean their environments and compounds? Which law guaranteed or permits agberos to come out on sanitations day and harass people?
Its has become a free for all show every last Saturday of the month. It is an office to extort, one can no longer differentiate government officials from touts, thugs, security agencies. Even those who claim to be revenue collectors for the local government like ticket task force members are all sanitation officials. Their only reasons for coming is to extort, maim and embarrass people in the name of order from the chairman. They are nothing but criminals.
These are not genuine approaches but a show off. Its just like an empty drum making the loudest noise.
The ministry of environment led by Ejiro Jamani as Commissioner should in collaboration with the local government areas and officials of the environmental health departments at the various local government areas as a matter of urgency amd go back to the drawing board and re-strategise, organise how to go about sensitizing, educating and creating awareness to the public. Prosecuting people, collecting fines or sending them to jail alone will not help to get a clean environment.
It is therefore important for local authorities and residents to work together to address this issue and ensure that proper sanitation measures are in place, this includes clearing bushes, blocked streets and water channels, enforcing littering laws, and conducting regular clean-up drives and monitoring streets for compliance.
Show-off behavior of our leaders from the state to the local government level contributes to the dirty environment, dirty streets and blocked water channels. It is not only shameful, but also detrimental to the environment and the health of the peoples and residents. It is important for individuals to take responsibility for their actions and contribute to maintaining a clean and sustainable environment for everyone.
It is awful seeing community leaders, youths barricading community roads, streets on sanitation day, but fail to educate their peoples and followers the need for a clean and better environment. All they do is how they can extort money from those using such route at that particular hour. Local government chairmen have work to do here. They should caution community leaders, and if there should be barricade at all, only recognized and authorized government officials and the police should be allowed to mount barricades on the road. Environmental officials should be deployed to streets and towns in each of the local government areas to ensure compliance with environmental laws. Homes and compounds should be visited sincerely but not with the intention of extorting and exploiting residents huge sums which will end in their personal accounts and pockets. Sanitation exercises should no longer be a show off that cannot be sustained but just to say we are working.