Anambra State Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Felix Odimegwu, on Saturday said “starting from May, parks and markets not participating in the monthly sanitation exercise would be shut down.
Odimegwu said this during the monitoring compliance by commercial premises in the April edition of the monthly sanitation exercise in Awka.
He said that the enforcement against defaulters would take effect from May sanitation exercise.
Odimegwu urged both commercial premises and residents to comply with the sanitation order, adding that it would not be business as usual as any defaulter would be charged legally.
He said the ministry is ready to inject force into the exercise as a way to achieve cleaner and healthier Anambra State.
“Our environment is under threat as a result of unfriendly attitude of some residents, vigorous transformation is expected to restore a cleaner Anambra Environment.
“We will call for community participation approach, six hours refuse collection, stronger partnership of refuse collectors for sustainability and waste to wealth approach among other steps,” he said.
Odimegwu appealed to the people to shun indiscriminate dumping of refuse.
The commissioner said the government has plans to build healthy environment, adding, it is committed to ensuring that every building had more than one tree in it.
Quoting official sources, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that people apprehended during the exercise by the commissioner’s monitoring sanitation team will be forced to take part in the exercise.
Mr Charles Nwoji, a resident, appealed to residents in Anambra to key into the monthly sanitation exercise and participate actively with a view to restoring the old aesthetic nature of the state.
Nwoji said that National Orientation Agency has continued to educate and sensitise the public on the importance of a clean and healthy environment to human development.
He said to participate fully in the daily and monthly sanitation of ones environment means wealth creation and healthy areas.
Nwoji advised the public to always package their wastes in bin bag and disposed it rightly at designated dumpsites.
Mrs Nkechi Nwokoye, another resident, said that people were ready to pay waste collection levy once the levies would be used for the purpose.
Talking of erosion menace in Anambra State, the Commissioner said to fight the over 900 erosion sites in the state, residents and real estate developers must imbibe the culture of tree planting and shun deforestation.
