NAN-AE-14
Campaign
By Vivian Emoni
Abuja, May 18, 2017 (NAN) The Abuja Environmental Protection Board, (AEPB) on Thursday started a sensitisation campaign on clean-up exercise at Apo Mechanic Village in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The operation was designed to rid the territory of heaps of refuse.
Mrs Rachael Omenta, Unit Head, Schools, Abattoir and Markets, Department of Environmental Health Safety of the board supervised the exercise.
Omenta said that the aim was to create awareness on the dangers of living in filthy environment.
She said that the board wanted to ensure that people living in the area were involved in the development of the community.
“The focus of this exercise is to sensitise the community on improper garbage disposal habits and to assist them to play their roles in keeping their environment clean to be healthy.
“Our target is to create awareness among the people in the area on environmental issues and fostering a sense of personal environment responsibility, greater motivation and commitment toward the protection of the environment.
“The exercise is also to ensure a sustainable cleanliness of the FCT and the clean-up of the environment.
“The board has decided to intervene in this exercise because the refuse can cause environmental and health hazards,’’ she said.
Omenta said that the board had fixed third Thursday of every month as a clean-up day from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., adding that the idea would promote environmental health in the area.
She said that the board had made adequate plan to sustain the exercise, adding that it remained resolute to rid the city of all environmental wastes.
She urged the residents to always keep their surroundings clean by disposing their wastes properly using the waste bins and waste nylon bags to keep the refuse.
Omenta said that the board`s cleaning contractors would be moving around to evacuate the waste to dump sites three times in one week.
The unit head advised the residents to ensure that the waste bins were protected to avoid scavengers from tampering with t wastes.
Mr Anthony Mallam, the Chairman of the mechanic village who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that the exercise was a welcomed development.
Mallam said that he would ensure that the residents were committed to it, adding that the Mechanic Task-force Team would be organising how the exercise would be conducted successfully.
“We are going to use our task force team to ensure that the exercise is effective. We will make sure that everyone in this community is committed.
“We must ensure that this area is kept neat, the residents are promising the board today that we will not disappoint AEPB or FCT administration,’’ he said. (NAN)
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Edited by Grace Yussuf