The Nation Newspaper

Tag: clean

  • Lagosians urge to keep environment clean

    A former Lagos State Governor, Alhaji Lateef Jakande has urged Lagosians to ensure cleanliness of their environment daily.

    Jakande, spoke last Saturday during the monthly environmental exercise, organised by Greater Ilupeju Township Association (GITA) in conjunction with Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).

    Decked in a blue native attire, a silver cap and blue palm slippers, the elderstateman was seen sweeping the floor with other members of the association – all in uniformed T-shirt.

    Jakande, who recently marked his 87th birthday, said it is imperative to take care of the environment for the good of the society.

    According to him, no country can do well without a good environment.

    “This was why we started GITA and we carry out environmental sanitation every month in various parts of the state,” he said.

    He therefore appealed to all Lagosians to make the environmental day, a day of service.

    “We in GITA attach a great importance to this, because a clean environment ig good for the health of the people and that of the entire nation.”

    Jakande noted that Lagos State government has to do more in the area of the environment.

    “The state should give total support to LAWMA and make Lagos a better mega city. Lagosians should also take initiative to clean the environment. GITA has gone round today to keep the environment clean and I hope that will and be a sample for all citizens to participate,” he said.

    A clean environment, he said, is a good habitation and it is to the benefit of all.

  • Residents urged to keep their surroundings clean

    Residents urged to keep their surroundings clean

    The Sole Administrator of Odi-Olowo/Ojuwoye Local Council Development Area, Mr. Adekunle Julius has urged stakeholders within the LCDA to support the government’s efforts towards ensuring safe and healthy environment through planting of trees.

    Adekunle, who represented Governor Akinwunmi Ambode at this year’s tree planting campaign held at Sura Mogaji Playing ground, Odi-Olowo stated that planting of trees is very important for environment because trees provide oxygen, cool the atmosphere, help conserve energy, save water, prevent erosion, save our children from ultra-violet rays, provide food and brings diverse groups together as we are doing today. The state government is solidly behind this year’s theme:” Lend a Hand to Save Trees.”

    He added that residents must plant trees to replace those removed from vast acres of land so that we reduce the rate of ocean surge and erosion with its attendant problem of displacement of homes and communities.

    He revealed that Lagos State has become a positive reference point in Nigeria about creating a Green Environment, saying “we remain committed to this cause and will vigorously pursue the state greening policy of total regeneration of degraded sites as part of our pact with Lagosians.”

  • ‘Embrace clean environment’

    The Sole Administrator Mushin Local Government Area, Olayinka Kazeem has said clean environment engenders healthy living for the people.

    He stated that regular environmental hygiene will reduce high cost spent on diseases, ailments and other health issues.

    While monitoring the sanitation exercise in the local government area, the Sole Administrator observed that collapsed drains and pot-holes would also be given high priority in order to minimise flooding so as to make the streets and roads motorable.

    Kazeem also enjoined the residents to desist from dumping garbage in the drains, even as he admonished them by paying their rates and taxes in order to assist the council to fulfil its statutory obligations and responsibilities to the people.

    Dignitaries present at the event were the Head of Environmental Department, Mrs Adebimpe Adedipe, other heads of departments, top politicians, community development leaders and para-military agencies, among others.

  • Come clean

    •The onus is on Gen. Buratai, CoAS, to come clean on Dubai houses

    These, certainly, are not the best of times for Muhammadu Buhari, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The simple reason is that the very essence of his one-year-old administration is being shaken at its foundations. Anti-graft war, the most defining marker of his epoch stands the risk of being fatally damaged by the unfolding drama of what may be a ‘Burataigate’.

    We therefore urge that the presidency must act, and promptly too, in following the allegation to its logical conclusion and taking appropriate action in consonance with the anti-corruption ethos of his government. Nothing short of this will do.

    Now a synopsis of the story: an online investigative news portal, Sahara Reporters had broken the news early this week alleging that Lt. General Tukur Buratai, the serving Chief of Army Staff, owns two houses in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, worth about $1.5 million, among other grievous  allegations.

    In his initial reaction, the army chief had stated that the properties in question were real but that they belonged to him and his two wives.

    He also noted that he had acquired them through his savings in his years as a military officer.

    However, both the Federal Government and the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) have rallied to the support of the general. According to government, he had declared the houses in his assets papers and he has been investigated and found to have done nothing wrong.

    Justifying the general’s action further, the military authority explained that the nature of the offshore investment was based on the capital market principles of shareholding. According to a release by DHQ: “The government, after investigating the recent media report over the acquisition of property in Dubai, United Arab Emirates by General Buratai, discovered that he and his wives invested as “shareholders” like many other persons in the property mentioned in the publications and were not the sole owners.”

    However, speaking yesterday, Buratai provided what he termed clarification, describing his accusers as cyber-terrorists: “I am not supposed to comment on this but for clarity sake, my take on the issue is that we have already defeated the terrorists on land and they have already migrated to the cyberspace and internet, but I want to assure the Boko Haram… that we would follow them to the cyberspace and defeat them.” He was not deterred by what he called “campaign of calumny against” him.

    So many issues crop up in this allegation against General Buratai. First, it is a matter that must not be treated with levity by both the Presidency and the DHQ. Therefore, the talk of cyber-terrorists and campaign of calumny should never arise. Second and as has been noted above, it will not go away in a hurry and it will test the integrity and raison d’etre of this government to its very firmaments. Third, an environment where the military establishment has been found to be rotten and currently undergoing massive investigations and indeed, some of Buratai’s contemporaries have been shown to be wantonly corrupt, he must not only come clean but must be seen to be squeaky clean.

    And questions abound that all concerned must endeavour to answer for the good of the military establishment and the government.

    One, if the source of the funds in question is indeed from the savings of the general and his wives, have proper efforts been made to show this to Nigerians by cataloguing a detailed report of his earnings over the period in question?

    Two, is a top, serving military officer allowed to own such an investment abroad; is he allowed to ship such funds offshore? Are there no security implications?

    Questions abound indeed, tacky questions. Not the presidency, not DHQ will or can answer them satisfactorily; Buratai must get up and come clean on this matter.

    We ask that the general be stood down if by the slightest of chance he is found culpable. That is the right thing for the president to do.

  • NGO educates pupils on clean environment

    A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Friends of the Environment, has engaged secondary school pupils in Mushin, Lagos State, at a one-day seminar on the benefits of clean environment.

    The event with the theme: “Operation catch them young,” held at the Community Senior School, Mushin, was aimed at making the pupils to understand the importance of preserving their environment and the detriment of harming it.

    The Chairman on the occasion, Dr Samuel Akintayo, an insurance practitioner, said the event’s objective was to educate the pupils on their future.

    Akintayo said: “The youth are very important, so is our environment. Therefore, we are to keep our environment very clean to make Nigeria what it is supposed to be. Besides, to become something great in life, our environment matters. When these students become leaders of tomorrow, we will be certain of a clean environment, both in the financial, educational and economical sectors, among others. If all these institutions are clean, then we are assured of a clean nation. If we travel to other countries, it won’t be a new thing because we have a clean nation.”

    The Vice Principal of the school, Mrs. Ololade Taiwo, cautioned against acts that are capable of polluting the environment. She noted that the effects of noise and abandoned vehicles harm the social environment where plants, animals and humans live.

    Founder and co-ordinator of the NGO, Mrs. Iyabo Akinsiju said the organisation is aimed at upgrading the community and initiating a change of heart among the citizens.

    She said with their little efforts, children can change things for the better. “The environment is the only thing the rich and the poor share which cannot be dictated by the government; therefore, such a place needs to be given fair treatment. We believe if we get to the younger ones, we have reached the older ones. My advice to the young ones is to imbibe the habit of keeping a clean environment and try not to live in a polluted one,” she said.

    Happiness Nwankwo, an SSS 2 pupil at the seminar, said the eevnt has taught her the need for cleanliness and engaging in consistent environmental cleaning, both at home and school.

    Similarly, an SSS3 pupil of Itire Community Senior Secondary School, Itire, Blessing Okafor, said she has learnt the importance of maintaining a clean environment as well as the consequences of having a bad one.

    The pupils were also taught songs about the environment and were asked to teach their friends and colleagues, while the SS1 and SS2 class prefects were made ambassadors of the environment.

  • 850 pupils march for clean Lagos campaign

    850 pupils march for clean Lagos campaign

    Eight Hundred and fifty secondary school pupils from Ilupeju and environs, and Corps members trooped out to support an enlightenment campaign on environmental sanitation.

    The campaign, organised by Brand Phase Empowerment Initiative in collaboration with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and the Lagos State Ministry of Education.

    The ‘environmentalists’, bearing a banner with the inscription “Project Clean up: One Community at a time, marched round Ilupeju with waste bags picking up litter on the streets and in the drains.

    They were led by the Tutor-General/Permanent Secretary, Education District VI, Mrs Anifowoshe Amidat, Mrs Funmi Fadiji, District Counsellor, Mr Odeyemi Joshua, Principal, Ilupeju Junior Grammar School, and Mrs Bola Olufowobi, among others.

    Mrs Anifowoshe said the exercise was aimed at keeping the environment clean and inculcating in pupils the importance of sanitation to prevent diseases.

    “Encouraging the young ones to know the importance of cleaning the environment will help reduce the rate of sickness in the country and also hospitals will have fewer patients to attend to and it will also prevent the Ebola and Lassa fever diseases in the country,” she said.

    Mr Moses Emorinken, coordinator of Brand Phase Empowerment Initiative, said he hoped that through the project youngsters would start disposing their waste properly and not in undesignated public places.

    “The common thing people do is that when they finish with a drink they just discard on the ground and such behaviour is not good for the environment, so this project is to persuade the people to keep away from such acts and to let them know such acts can endanger their health,” he said.

    Mrs Fadiji described the project as good for the pupils.  If trained, she said, they could be relied upon to pass on the lessons to others.

  • Tambuwal’s campaign to keep Sokoto clean  

    On 1st October 1968, the then Prime Minister of Singapore, the late Sir Lee Kuan Yew launched the “Keep Singapore Clean Campaign” programme. The aim was to make Singapore the cleanest and greenest city in the region by addressing the problem of inconsiderate littering. It also sought to instil in Singaporeans the importance of keeping their homes and public places clean. Two decades after the launch of the campaign, the tiny island-nation did not only emerge as the cleanest in the region, but on the global map as one of the cleanest and neatest cities in the world. Till date, Singapore has consistently remained among the 10 top neatest cities on the globe.

    The recent initiative to keep Sokoto clean by Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal who made a pledge of One Million Naira to the cleanest street in Sokoto should be a welcome development and something worthy of emulation by his co-Governors in Nigeria. Waste management has become a serious challenge which many developing nations have not given a proper attention despite it hazardous implications. In the case of Nigeria, it’s a phenomenon as even the capital city of our nation is not immune or can boast of proper waste management and refuse collection method.

    Campaigns are meant to have a long term impact. However, human errors, wrong judgement or a lack of foresight during the introduction of campaigns can sometimes lead to failures or even disasters. For example, in 1958 the new China launched the Four Pests Campaign in a bid to eliminate rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows. The sparrows were targeted because they ate the farmers’ grain seeds. In a short time, millions of Chinese were mobilised for the campaign. Sparrows, as well as other birds, were shot, with their nests and eggs destroyed. Soon, the Chinese government realised that, besides eating grains, sparrows were also natural predators to many insects. It was too late then. By 1960, rice farms in China were swarmed by locusts, leading to the Great Chinese famine in which millions died of starvation.

    Singapore had launched over 200 campaigns in the seventies and eighties. Many of these campaigns have had positive effects. They include: water-saving, speak mandarin campaign, Greening Singapore, keep Singapore clean campaign, public health campaign, wash your hand, anti-drug, Breastfeeding, safe water, anti-spiting, anti-smoking, anti-littering and keep Singapore crime free.

    The Keep Sokoto Clean scheme will require intensive usage of media and campaigns in other to achieve its goals. Sometimes, a campaign represents an era, and some of its posters go on to become iconic representations that are even remembered after decades.    The masses should be educated to know the merits of living in a clean environment and also to make them recognize why it really matters to their health. But this could only be possible with the support of citizens whose cooperation with the government is very essential to make the environment clean, safe and fresh.

    The government should use posters and banners in major languages to be displayed in public places such as shops, markets, restaurants, offices, factories, community centres, motor parks and public notice boards. Mini-posters, stick-up strips, leaflets, pamphlets and car-bumper stickers should also be distributed with the Clean Sokoto campaign slogan. In addition to the distribution of collaterals, various public and education activities should be organised in major languages. These include talks and lectures by health officials, inspections and spot checks by government officials, rallies, exhibitions and estate cleaning exercises by the residents.

    The cleanest offices, streets, estates, shopping complex, restaurants, markets, government buildings and schools should be rewarded. The information should be announced publicly, highlighting both the cleanest and the dirtiest. Not only would the offenders be branded as litterbugs; film clips and photographs of dirty premises, streets or people caught in the act of littering should be shown and broadcast in the mass media.

    Besides the use of social pressure, the Keep Sokoto Clean campaign should not only be rewarding as promised; the governor should lead the campaign alongside top government functionaries as did by the late Sir Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore in order to give the scheme prominence. In order to enforce the campaign, specific amounts of fine should be used as a way to control the offenders. The state environmental agency and other stakeholders should from time to time send officers on patrol to counsel members of the public against littering and its consequences.

    The government must empower the unit saddled with the responsibility of implementing the scheme with adequate budgetary allocation, technical and logistic support. There should be adequate provision of waste roll-off containers at vulnerable streets, refuse carts, development of proper sewage systems and drainages. In other to enforce the scheme, laws need to be enacted to make it compulsory for all commercial and public offices to have refuse disposal bags and containers at their business and operations premises. The collection of refuse and waste for proper disposal by the concerned authorities at least twice or once in a week should be timely in other to avoid pollution of the environment. With recycling technology, waste collected in the city can be successfully recycled for economic benefit.

    To ensure that good habits are cultivated from a young age, children and students should be special target groups of the campaign and teachers should be involved to remind students not to litter the environment. The cities of Calgary, Luxemburg, Zurich, Adelaide, Freiburg, Singapore, Kobe, Stockholm, Vienna and Oslo which are today ranked as the cleanliest cities in the world didn’t just wake up in a day and achieved the status. The idea was initiated, nurtured and sustained just as Governor Tambuwal has indicated his willingness and zeal to make Sokoto a clean city. It is an undeniable fact that a cleaner city would lead to a more pleasant life, safe drinking water, low level of diseases and pollution, thus creating the necessary social conditions for higher economic growth through industry and tourism. The administration should place more importance on educating and enlightening the citizens on the need to be more conscious and thoughtful about their actions in relation to cleanliness.

    The Keep Sokoto Clean initiative if well implemented, nurtured and sustained would have a positive impact on the city throughout the coming years. While lauding the foresight of Tambuwal’s administration to make Sokoto a clean city, it is imperative for his administration to evolve and broaden the programme by making “Greening” of the city part of the “Cleaning” campaign just as the Singapore model.

    • Yahaya wrote in from Kado-Estate, Abuja

  • What’s this clean crooked stove?

    Did you ever hear of a cooking device known as clean cookstove? Would you recognise one if someone handed it to you? Did you ever have a problem about how to cook your meals? Do you think handing stove to people – whether cookstove or crooked ones, should ever be a matter for the Federal Executive Council, FEC, where the president of a country sits to consider urgent matters of grave national importance?

    It is because of matters like this that Hardball is eternally and wholesomely cynical about the President Goodluck Jonathan era and thinks it is the most pathetic regime that ever happened here. Please let us consider the clean cookstove saga and tell me thereafter if Jona cynicism is not a most healthful emotion to sustain.

    Late last year, at the onset of the current economic recession when Madam Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was telling us about belt-tightening, FEC announced to a bewildered nation one of those Wednesdays that it had awarded a contract for the purchase and distribution of 750,000 clean cookstoves. Contract sum: N9.2 billion. Ha, just like that, where is this stove thing coming from all of a sudden? And all this money – about one tenth of some African country’s budget –  just for some stove?

    The entire stove narrative is as incongruous as the Jonathan administration was an absurdity. Environment is among the single most important issue elsewhere; here it is honey pot for politicians and civil servants. All the funds for preserving our world here are simply debased and designated as ‘free fund’ and then vaporised by people in authority who need it most to import bigger autos (‘machines’) to further debase the environment. It’s suicidal irony. So the clean cookstove is one such ironies of Nigeria’s environment.

    Why would the Federal Government get into the mire of purchasing stoves for rural Nigerians? What would some of these people do with these stoves when they have not earned salary for months? How would a mere 750,000 units of stove help our vast country and large population? Why is each unit of stove sold for N4,000 in the open market ordered at N12,000 by the Federal Government? Why did the former president approve for us to import stoves we can manufacture here? Kenya is said to have set up an industrial complex to manufacture millions of even better such stoves for only N1 billion? Why are the contractors supplying gas stoves instead of clean cook stoves?

    Questions are too numerous. And we ask finally, why was it the pastime of the Jonathan government to do things that always left a trail of embarrassing questions?

    Finally, what is the out-gone Minister of Environment, Mama Lawrencia Laraba-Mallam, doing plodding about in this unclean, crooked stove mess? If we must play in the muck of graft, we allowed to apply some commonsense; a little bit of method makes madness palatable, they say.

    What’s this clean crooked stove?

  • Enyeama keeps clean sheet

    Enyeama keeps clean sheet

    Super Eagles first choice goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama was in his usual best for French side Lille as they played out a hard fought goalless draw against Everton in yesterday’s Europa Cup tie at the Stade-Pierre Mauroy arena.

    The visitors were cheered on by more than 6,000 travelling fans as they looked to strenghten their strong hold on Group H but it was the home side that had the better exchanges in the first half and Idrissa Gueye nearly gave them the lead but his shot drifted away from Tim Howard’s goal. Divock Origi looked lively for Lille but was unable to give them the cutting edge in a game both sides had just three shots each on target.

    Everton sprung into life in the second half after Belgian forward, Romelu Lukaku was introduced for Steven Pienaar on 64 minute and immediately took charge of the game but Lille stayed strong courtesy Enyeama as he saved brillantly from Aiden McGeady and samuel Eto’o to deny Roberto Martinez men a precious away win.

    Lille is currently placed third with 3 points after three games in Group H, two points behind table toppers Everton.

  • Ebonyi signs clean water pact with U.S.

    Ebonyi signs clean water pact with U.S.

    The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ebonyi State government to establish a collaborative development partnership to modernise the state’s water utility. The agreement cements an ongoing working relationship to strengthen the institutional, legal and regulatory framework of the Ebonyi State water system so that households have increased access to potable water. Currently, activities underway include establishing a reliable customer database to improve billing and collection efficiency, strengthening the human resource management skills through targeted trainings and developing a tariff policy for cost recovery.

    The MOU was signed by his Excellency, the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief Martin Elechi, and the USAID Mission Director, Michael T. Harvey.

    Mr. Harvey acknowledged Ebonyi state’s significant investment to expand clean water production and connect its population to an affordable water supply. The state financed the construction of two new water treatment plants and a 52-kilometer trunk water main that connects one of the new water treatment plants to the state capital, Abakaliki. Mr. Harvey said that USAID will work with the Ebonyi State Water Corporation to help it achieve financial independence and, in the end, provide more, better quality water on a reliable basis.  He said, “This partnership is critical because it is about sustainability. It’s about strong political will and a commitment to reform. USAID will enable government officials to move the state towards a brighter future.”

    USAID’s urban water reform activity — Sustainable Water and Sanitation in Africa (SUWASA) — is a water policy reform activity at the state level that focuses on sustainable urban water supply.