Ekiti State Government, has expressed concern over the lacklustre attitude and disposition of Ekiti residents to observing the monthly environmental sanitation in the state.
The Deputy Governor, Mrs Monisade Afuye, said this on Saturday while monitoring the monthly exercise in Ise-Ekiti at Ise/Orun Local Goverment Area of Ekiti State.
Afuye performed the duty in company of the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Habibat Adubiaro, the Chairman of Ise/Orun Council, Mr Ayodele Akinluyi, market women, among other government functionaries.
She maintained that the exercise was introduced to mitigate wasteful spending on contagious, but avoidable diseases that could break out due to poor environmental cleanliness by citizens.
During the monitoring, the deputy governor waited at Ogbese, Obada and Afolu, which are farmsteads under Ise- Ekiti and enforced strict compliance of environmental policy among rural dwellers, especially the Hausa community and operators of local palm oil producing facilities in the area.
While addressing the Ise-Ekiti inhabitants on the significance of the exercise, Afuye stated that health and human services were premium priority of the Governor Biodun Oyebanji-led government.
He said this buttressed that the general wellbeing of Ekiti people was paramount to the current administration.
The deputy governor expressed the government’s zealous and willingness to prosecute the monthly programme to safeguard the health of the populace and avert untimely death.
“We have gone round and discovered that our people are not really complying with this monthly exercise and this was the same all over Ekiti. To us, it is worrisome and unacceptable.
“Ekiti had been rated as having the highest Life Expectancy in Nigeria by reputable international organisations and this programme is an avenue to ensure that opportunistic killer diseases don’t have their ways in our dear state”, she said.
She appealed to the council bosses across the state to instruct their Sanitation Departments to mount aggressive campaign against indisriminate dumping of refuse and sewage in canals and residential areas.
“Diseases like cholera, whooping cough, scabies, and others can easily break out due to poor hygiene and environmental health. And these are diseases that had been adjudged as great killers of souls, so we have to prevent them.
“I want to plead with our people to take this programme very seriously. It was conceptualised to safeguard their lives.
“Our people must know that health is wealth. You can only pursue your day to day activities when you are healthy”, Afuye added.
The Secretary to the State Government, Dr Adubiaro, expressed disgust at the poor compliance observed in the council, saying this could pose health hazard to the populace.
During the visit to the palace of Arinjale of Ise- Ekiti, Oba Adetunji Ajayi, the traditional ruler appreciated Oyebanji’s administration for placing priority on the well-being of the populace, describing the exercise as one that should be embraced with utmost seriousness.
“With what is happening in Ekiti under governor Oyebanji, we are beginning to see that a new dawn has come. Whatever policy that the governor is executing, my people will key into it.
“The people of Ise -Ekiti can’t be antagonistic or defy any policy being implemented by this government.
“We are ready to support this government because the governor is showing respect to the Obas. He has paid his dues and he deserves everybody’s support irrespective of political affiliations.”
