The Nation Newspaper

Tag: sanitation

  • Sanitation at FUT MINNA

    Sanitation at FUT MINNA

    There was sanitation in  Bosso and Gidan Kwano campuses of the Federal University of Technology in Minna (FUT MINNA), Niger State, last week

    Students abandoned their engagements to participate in the exercise.

    The move was aimed towards promoting hygiene and prevent outbreak of diseases on campus.

    The hostel residents cleaned their rooms and the surrounding.

    Monitoring the exercise, the Dean of Students’ Affairs, Dr A.N. Saidu, praised the effort and commitment of the students in ensuring that the sanitation exercise was successful, adding that with “proper sensitisation, the need for proper hygiene will be better appreciated.”

    While addressing the students in the Bosso campus, the Students’ Union Government President, Segun Abdullahi, 500-Level Agricultural and Bio-resources Engineering, promised them of better days on campus, saying the union was making adequate plans to attend to the various needs of the students. He also assured them of the continuity of the exercise.

    A Hall Representative of Block Q Boys’ Hostel, Zakari Lafiagi, 400-Level Biological Sciences, said: “the organisation and preparation was not perfect because, the logistics for the exercise came to us late but notwithstanding, the residents of my hall tried their best in carrying out the sanitation exercise as much as expected. I am impressed.”

    Emmanuel Ehizojie, 500-Level Mathematics and Statistics, praised the organisers and urged the school management to make the activity a consistent one.

    Jimoh David, 300-Level student of Information and Media Technology, applauded the management for reviving the long forgotten event and recommended that the event should be made an annual one.

  • WHO/UNICEF highlights need to improve drinking water

    WHO/UNICEF highlights need to improve drinking water

    According to a new WHO/UNICEF report, entitled Progress on drinking water and sanitation: 2014 update, the number of people practising open defecation is declining steadily in most areas of the world, but is still increasing in 26 of 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to the transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid. In addition, inadequate or absent water and sanitation services in health care facilities put already vulnerable patients at additional risk of infection and disease according to the report.

    Those with no access to a sanitation facility continue to defecate in gutters, behind bushes or in open water bodies, with no dignity or privacy. Nine out of 10 people who practise open defecation live in rural areas.

    “The vast majority of those without improved sanitation are poorer people living in rural areas. Progress on rural sanitation – where it has occurred – has primarily benefitted richer people, increasing inequalities,” said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.

    “Too many people still lack a basic level of drinking water and sanitation. The challenge now is to take concrete steps to accelerate access to disadvantaged groups. An essential first step is to track better who, when and how people access improved sanitation and drinking water, so we can focus on those who don’t yet have access to these basic facilities,” she added.

    Overall, the world is not on track to meet the sanitation target in the Millennium Development Goals; 69 countries were not on track in 2012, 36 of them were located in sub-Saharan Africa.

    According to the call to action on sanitation issued by the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations in March 2013, “open defecation perpetuates the vicious cycle of disease and poverty. Those countries where open defecation is most widely practised have the highest numbers of deaths of children under the age of five, as well as high levels of undernutrition, high levels of poverty and large disparities between the rich and poor.

    “There are also strong gender impacts: lack of safe, private toilets makes women and girls vulnerable to violence and is an impediment to girls’ education”.

    In addition to the disparities between the rich and poor, and between urban and rural areas, there are often also striking differences within towns and cities. People living in low-income, informal or illegal settlements on the outskirts of cities or small towns are less likely to have access to an improved water supply or better sanitation.

    “When we fail to provide equal access to improved water sources and sanitation we are failing the poorest and the most vulnerable children and their families,” said Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. “If we hope to see children healthier and better educated, there must be more equitable and fairer access to improved water and sanitation.”

    As we approach the 2015 Millennium Development Goals deadline, the lessons, successes and remaining challenges are becoming increasingly clear. Although sub-Saharan Africa is not on track to meet the MDGs drinking water target, progress has still been made.

    “Since 2000, almost a quarter of the current population gained access to an improved drinking water source – that is, on average, over 50 000 people per day, every day, for 12 years in a row,” states the report.

    “In 1990, 95 per cent of people in urban areas could drink improved water, compared with 62 per cent people in rural ones. By 2012, 96 per cent people living in towns and 82 per cent of those in rural areas had access to improved water”.

    In 2012, over 50 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa’s population is now using improved drinking water sources. Despite progress, more progress is needed – much more.

     

    Dr Couillard is an international health columnist that works in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s goals of disease prevention and control. Views do not necessarily reflect endorsement.

     

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  • Sanitation holds tomorrow

    The Lagos State monthly environmental sanitation will hold tomorrow between 7am and 10am.

    Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Tunji Bello, denied yesterday, that the exercise had been cancelled.

    He said the day should be kept free for the exercise.

    Bello urged residents to participate in the exercise by cleaning their homes, drain and surroundings.

    He reminded residents that global climatic weather conditions had become so unpredictable, adding: “We should actively participate in the cleaning of our drains and channels, as well as properly dispose of our waste through the Lagos Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) and the authorised Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators, as dumping of waste into canals impedes the flow of storm water, which eventually leads to flooding.”

    He warned residents who still patronise cart pushers to desist from the act.

    Bello warned private and commercial vehicle operators, transport owners and road transport workers’ association, to comply with the order restricting movement between 7am and 10am. Any vehicle caught during these period would be dealt with, the passenger prosecuted, he warned.

    He urged those who play football on the highways and roads during the exercise to desist as law enforcement agents have been instructed to arrest violators.

  • Sanitation holds in Lagos Saturday

    Sanitation holds in Lagos Saturday

    The Lagos State monthly environmental sanitation will be observed between 7.00am and 10am on Saturday, Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Tunji Bello, said yesterday.

    Human and vehicular movement will be restricted during the period to ensure “full participation of residents for a cleaner Lagos.”

    Bello said: “Our efforts are now concentrated in our goal towards attaining a flood-free Lagos during the coming rainy season, while not relenting in our core environmental management functions. Our goal is to sustain the achievements of last year as well as try to surpass them. We shall sustain our all-year cleaning, which includes pre-rain, mid-rain and post-rain massive cleaning, maintenance and drainage dredging channels across the state.”

    He reminded Lagosians that global climatic weather conditions had become so unpredictable that the flood ravaging some parts of the United Kingdom, despite their advanced drainage network, can also happen in Lagos, hence people must be prepared.

    “We must ensure that our drains and channels are free-flowing, and we must properly dispose of our waste through the authorised institutions as dumping of waste into canals impedes the flow of storm water in our drainage channels,” he added.

    The commissioner warned residents who still patronise cart pushers to desist from the illegal act. But he advised Lagosians to complement government’s effort towards ensuring that canals and channels are cleaned at all times by desisting from dumping waste into them in order to attain a flood-free Lagos.

    To ensure full participation and total compliance with the restriction order, Bello warned inter-state bus operators, and the state Transport Owners and Road Transport Workers’ Association to comply with the restriction order as any vehicle caught violating the order would be dealt with appropriately, while passengers in such vehicles would also be prosecuted according to the state Sanitation Laws.

  • Sanitation holds tomorrow

    The monthly environmental sanitation in Lagos State, with its attendant restriction of human and vehicular movement, will hold between 7am and 10am tomorrow.

    Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello urged Lagosians to actively participate in the exercise by cleaning their homes, drains and surroundings.

    He explained that apart from the state-organised event, “the cleaning of our environment should be an everyday affair since it is known that we daily generate waste, which should be properly disposed off.”

    He advised Lagosians: “We should actively participate in the cleaning of our drains and channels, as well as properly dispose our waste through LAWMA and authorised PSP operators, as dumping of waste into canals impede the flow of storm water in our drainage channels.”

    Bello said the Drainage Maintenance Department and Emergency Flood Abatement Department commenced its massive pre-rain cleaning and dredging of canals across the state, to reduce the incidence of flooding in the state.

    He warned residents who still patronise cart pushers to desist from the act as the scope of the PSP operators has been widened to further accommodate more residents of the state.

    He assured that law enforcement agencies of the state and the police had been fully mobilised to enforce the restriction of movement order, warning that violators would be prosecuted according to sanitation laws of the state.

  • FG decries poor access to water, sanitation

    THE Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Ochekpe, has decried poor access to safe water and basic sanitation in most rural areas.

    She said this informed the adoption of Community – Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) to promote proper hygiene in rural Nigeria.

    Ochekpe spoke at the 2013 Global Hand Washing Day with the theme: “The power is in your hand” in Abuja.

    The minister, who was represented by the Director, Irrigation and Drainage, Mr. Joe Kwanashie, explained that approach has been adopted as a tool to address the challenges.

    She said: ”It has been found out children under the age of five suffer most as the mortality ration is 157 out of 1,000 births, which to us are unacceptable as it is preventable through act of hand washing.

    ”Children living in households exposed to hand washing promotion with soap or ash had half the diarrhea rates of children living in controlled neighbourhoods.

    “Hand washing can prevent the transmission of a variety of pathogens, it may be more effective than any single vaccine and therefore highly recommended.”

  • Sanitation holds in Lagos tomorrow

    Lagos residents were yesterday urged to actively participate in the state-wide monthly sanitation holding tomorrow.

    While enjoining them to comply with the restriction order on human and vehicular movement between 7am and 10am, Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Tunji Bello, urged residents to clean up the drains and canals in their immediate environment.

    He said: “The rainy season is not over yet; while we are consolidating on our achievements so far, we are intensifying efforts on our all-year cleaning and maintenance programme across the state to reduce flooding and its attendant danger. We have continued the mass dredging and maintenance of drainage channels for free flow of storm water to eliminate flooding which is of paramount importance to this administration.”

    Warning residents against patronising cart pushers, Bello said it is inimical to the waste management policy of the government because they dump refuse into canals thus worsening flooding.

    He warned inter-state motorists to comply with the restriction order as any vehicle caught would be dealt with, while its passengers would face the Environmental Sanitation Laws of the state.

  • Sanitation holds Saturday

    The Lagos State monthly environmental sanitation will hold tomorrow with restriction of human and vehicular movements between 7am and10am.

    Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Tunji Bello, advised Lagosians to clean the drains and canals in their environments as the rainy season, according to him, is yet to be over.

    Bello warned inter-state bus operators, transport owners and Road Transport Workers Association to comply with the restriction as any vehicle caught violating it will be dealt with according to the State Sanitation Laws. He added that passengers in such vehicles will be prosecuted.

    He assured that the various law-enforcement outfits in the state would join the police to enforce the movement restriction order, warning that violators will be prosecuted.

  • Monthly sanitation holds in Lagos tomorrow

    THERE will restrictions on vehicular and pedestrian movements tomorrow in Lagos between 7am and 10am, the state government has announced.

    Environment Commissioner Tunji Bello, who dropped the hint, urged Lagosians to observe the monthly sanitation programme by cleaning up drains and canals within their neighbourhood.

    He said the cleaning and clearing of drains and canals became necessary following meteorologist warnings that Lagos and other states in the Southwest will experience heavy downpour and severe thunderstorms this year.

    According to him, the state government has concentrated its actions on activities that would reduce flooding.

    Besides, he informed that his ministry has embarked on massive dredging, cleaning and maintenance of drainage channels ahead of the predicted rains.

    Bello, however, urged residents to be on the alert but remain calm as government has put in place measures to contain flooding challenges.

    He re-assured residents that government would go to any length to protect lives and properties in the State of Aquatic Splendor.

    The commissioner was quoted as saying in a statement: “Lagosians must desist from the habits of dumping refuse in drainage channels and acts compromising drainage alignment, such as building and erection of stalls on drainage setbacks among others.

    “The essence is to allow easy passage of rainstorm which is ultimate goal of this administration.”

    He warned that environmental sanitation law enforcers including; the police and officials of the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), have been fully mobilised to enforce compliance.

    He reminded inter-state travelers to obey the rules as ignorance cannot be an excuse for offenders.

  • Sanitation vital to food safety

    The Federal Government has been urged to penalise food manufacturing firms for poor sanitation.

    Speaking with The Nation, Prof Stephen Fapohunda, of the Department of Biosciences and Biotechnology, Babcock University, Ilishan Remo,Ogun State, said observance of sanitation regulations was an important and effective food safety initiative.

    He said companies where inspectors direct consistently unsanitary conditions, poor sanitation practices by employees, pest infestations and a general failure to protect food products from contamination should be fined or their licences withdrawn.

    According to him, improvements in food safety standards are attributes of enhanced sanitation.

    Despite the importance of sanitation within the food processing environment, he said food borne illness outbreaks linked to products produced under unsanitary conditions persists.

    He said there are poor sanitation practices almost every section of food processing, according to a statement, from large food processing operations down to the small businesses selling their products in local markets.

    Fapohunda said poor sanitation is the leading violation encountered in processing plants and food service establishments.

    He stressed the need for increased attention to developing and implementing more effective sanitation plans at all levels of the food industry.

    He said effective sanitation programme is an essential part of running any food production facility as it brings cost benefits, enhances motivation in the workplace and provides a microbiologically safe and stable product.

    Fapohunda urged the government to work with businesses to correct problems when violation of the state food and handling requirements are discovered.

    He said continued violations of food processing standards and the failure to fully pay earlier fines associated with previous violations should warrant the revocation of food processing licences.

    He called on authorities to conduct testing of meat products and publish the results “to provide a clearer picture of standards in the food chain.