Sanitation day, relaxation day in Kaduna

These two hours,  learnt is supposed to be used by residents of the state to clean their homes and environment. The people instead, however, find these hours as the time to relax from the hectic work they might have gone through on the other days.Daily Trust observed that on these sanitation days, residents of the […]

These two hours,  learnt is supposed to be used by residents of the state to clean their homes and environment. The people instead, however, find these hours as the time to relax from the hectic work they might have gone through on the other days.
Daily Trust observed that on these sanitation days, residents of the state instead of cleaning their environments engaged in their personal businesses like visiting friends, going to shops and sleeping, among others so much so that sometimes one hardly knew that sanitation was going on.
In the past, sanitation days were highly duly observed by the people as they see it as a day for cleaning and clearing their environments; while those found walking around during sanitation were forced to clean the environment where they were found irrespective of their age or gender.
Today, however, the reverse is the case as only very few people observe the monthly cleanup exercise. Other than the monthly sanitation, some people find it difficult to create time to clean their surroundings on a regular basis and thus they litter the area with refuse.
Some of the residents who were found moving around the last sanitation day said: “We didn’t even know that today is sanitation day until you told us. We are just going about our business.”
Another resident who does not want his name mentioned said that as far as he is concerned, there is no sanitation in Kaduna and that the day slated for monthly sanitation exercise is just meant to keep people at home.
“Since the enforcement is poor and government cannot justify the huge sum of money been spent on sanitation that has no result. In spite of the sanitation, gutters and drainages are blocked with refuse and that is why we experience flood everytime. So instead of wasting money on sanitation that is not yielding result the money can be diverted to other developmental projects,” he said.
On her part, Hajiya Zainabu Idris advised that government should enact law that will make the people to observe the sanitation exercise and that stiffer penalty should be enforced on defaulters found moving around during sanitation. “Health is wealth,” she stressed
“Before, we have what is called ‘Duba gari’ who moved from house to house, neighbourhood to neighbour to ensured cleanliness but we don’t have them again. So there is need for health workers or officers to be deployed to different parts of the state to ensure that people comply with sanitation. Mobile courts can also be introduced,” Malam Mustapha Umar said.
The coordinator of Global Initiative for Women and Children (GIWAC), Hajiya Hafsat Baba, condemned the nonchallant attitude of the people towards sanitation, saying that both the people and government are to blame for the non-observance of the exercise.
She noted that government is not doing enough to force the people to meet up to their responsibilities, saying that no penalty is in place for people that default.
When you look at this issue, you will find out that the system has collapsed completely. Once there is no check and balance, the people tend to relax.
“Kaduna State Ministry of Environment seems not to care about cleaning and disposing of refuse, in fact there are no enough dustbins for people to dump their refuse, so they litter the streets. Government hardly sensitizes the populace on hazards and dangers posed to health, by dirty environmental,” she said.
She said the people need to change their attitude towards cleaning their environment  adding that they must learn how to properly dispose their refuse. “If there is any law concerning the environment, it needs to be strengthened and implemented,” Hajiya Hafsat added.
She also blamed those who are contracted to clean the environment for not doing their work well, saying in spite of the huge amount spent on refuse collection, the state is still dirty with refuse everywhere. She advised government to exact stringent punishment on contractors and individuals who refused to carry out their responsibilities as expected of them.