House Committee Chairman Tasks Abia Residents On Environmental Sanitation

Chairman, Abia State House of Assembly Committee on Environment and Urban Renewal, Hon Kalu Mba Nwoke, has urged residents of the state to be proactive in cleaning their homes, business places and the environment.

Nwoke made the appeal while speaking with LEADERSHIP Sunday after monitoring yesterday’s environmental sanitation exercise in the state capital, Umuahia, saying such action had become very necessary.

“We need to imbibe the culture and habit of keeping our environment clean every moment and not only until when an occasion like this arises” he said.

The member representing Ohafia South constituency appreciated residents for the impressive turn out for the January monthly exercise adding that “there were remarkable noticeable improvements on what it used to be.”

Nwoke urged the residents to use the dry season to clean up their drainages and surroundings before the rains begin to avoid blockage, flooding and damage to the roads.

The lawmaker who also condemned indiscriminate burning of bushes, noted that it could cause loss of lives and destruction of property as well as harm to the environment and the ecosystem.

Similarly, the state’s commissioner for Environment, Mr Philemon Ogbonna, described the turn out as a response to the ongoing transformation in the state and stressed the need to sustain the spirit.

“The compliance level was high. This will go a long way in moving the state from being among the dirty ones to the cleanest as being envisaged by the present administration,” he noted.

Contributing, the general manager of the State Environmental Protection Agency, Umuahia zone, Ambrose Jonah, assured of the agency’s commitment to sustaining the level of sanitation in the state.

“In view of this, we’re not only working hard to achieve the objective, but are also providing the needed items such as receptacles, refuse bags and timely collection and disposal of the refuse,” he stated.