Edo State Commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Arch. Joshua Omokhodion has assured that having a serene environment is possible in Edo State.
Arch. Omokhodion who made the declaration during a one-day stakeholders’ engagement on Environmental Sanitation and Pollution Control held at the Festival Hall in Benin City, encouraged the people to follow the Governor Obaseki -led administration’s agenda in making Edo one of the cleanest states in Nigeria, advising them to always maintain their immediate environment.
“A clean society will bring about a healthy society as a serene society will make us free from disease, let us try to maintain our environment.
“You will agree with us that Edo State is not where it is supposed to be. We need to take our state back in terms of our neat culture, Edo people are known for their orderliness,” Hon. Omokhodion noted.
The commissioner further asserted that the Obaseki- led administration has embarked upon infrastructural development due to its keen interest in making Edo a clean and liveable state, stressing that the beauty of the infrastructure will amount to nothing with a dirty environment.
Arch. Omokhodion further called on stakeholders to avoid indiscriminate dumping of refuse on roads, throwing out refuse from moving vehicles and burning of refuse, warning that offenders will be apprehended and prosecuted.
He further called on members of the public to embark on a personal environmental sanitation, adding that a clean environment is everyone’s responsibility and a general calling, while calling on market women who he described as the highest refuse generators in the state to imbibe the culture of trading in a clean environment, as this would lead to a healthy lifestyle.
Arch. Omokhodion further disclosed that a mobile court saddled with the responsibility of persecuting offenders of environmental laws had been set up.
On her part, the Commissioner Social Development and Gender Issues, Hon.Christabel Omoh Ekwu enlightened the people on the health implications of a dirty environment, explaining that it will lead to spending money in hospitals due to ill health and other diseases associated with dirt.
She further discouraged the dumping of refuse in drainages, adding that such practices have become a menace that the State Government has had to deal with in order to ensure a serene environment.
Responding, the leader of the Market Women Association, Edo State, Ogiamien Blacky appreciated the State Government’s commitment in implementing policies that would bring about better maintenance culture, pledging on behalf of the market women to always support and do the needful in making Edo a clean state.
High point of the engagement was the signing of agreement papers pertaining to the implementation of environmental sanitation laws by the representatives of various organizations.
