FCT minister initiates award for cleanest area council

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Muhammad Bello, has initiated award for the cleanest area council as part of efforts to improve environmental sanitation in the territory.  Bello emphasized that the FCT administration had opted for the reward policy to encourage residents to clean their immediate surroundings.  Every Saturday, the minister goes to an […]

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Muhammad Bello, has initiated award for the cleanest area council as part of efforts to improve environmental sanitation in the territory.
 Bello emphasized that the FCT administration had opted for the reward policy to encourage residents to clean their immediate surroundings.
 Every Saturday, the minister goes to an area council to do environmental cleaning with the local people.
 On Saturday, February 2, 2016, the minister jointly started the exercise in Kuje with his counterpart in the Ministry of Environment, Amina Mohammed.
 The programme, tagged FCT Household and Community Sanitation Exercise, was taken to Kwali Area Council last Saturday. This coming Saturday, the minister will be in Bwari Area Council. He revealed that the chairman of the cleanest area council would, at the end of the year, not only be recognised but would also enjoy certain privileges.
 The minister reiterated that improved personal hygiene and removal of environmental waste in the area councils and satellite towns in FCT were of utmost importance as the administration now battles public health concerns.
 He said the need to go back to the old ways of keeping the environment clean necessitated the introduction of the sanitation exercise.
 He urged council chairmen, traditional rulers and community leaders to be part of the exercise, with a promise that the traditional ruler in whose domain is the cleanest area council would also be rewarded.
 “It is our duty, individually and collectively, to safeguard and maintain our environment because nobody can do it better than us,” the minister charged Kwali residents, adding that community-based approach to environmental sanitation is more realistic and sustainable.
 The Chairman of Kwali Area Council, Mr. Ibrahim Daniel, thanked the minister for introducing the sanitation exercise, saying it will help in preventing diseases. He appealed to the administration to complete the Kwaita road under construction since 2004, as well as Kwali township roads
 The minister lamented neglect of the environment, saying the culture of cleanliness Nigerians grew up with has been abandoned. “This neglect of household and communal efforts in cleanliness has often led to the spread of diseases such as the Lassa fever we are presently battling with,” Bello lamented.
 He called for a change of attitude by all – political, community, religious leaders, as well as civil servants and other citizens.