The Ekiti State Government, has expressed worries over lacklustre attitude and dispositions of Ekiti residents to observing the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in the state.
The Deputy Governor, Chief (Mrs) Monisade Afuye, said this in Ise- Ekiti, on Saturday, while monitoring the monthly environmental sanitation exercise at Ise/Orun Local Goverment Area of Ekiti State.
Mrs Afuye performed the duty in company of the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Habibat Adubiaro, the Chairman of Ise/Orun Council, Engr. Ayodele Akinluyi, market women, among other government functionaries.
Mrs Afuye, in a statement by her Media Aide, Victor Ogunje, maintained that the exercise was introduced to mitigate wasteful spending on contagious, but avoidable diseases that can breakout due to poor environmental cleanliness, by citizens .
During the monitoring exercise, 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 residents and operators of local palm oil producing facilities in the communities.
While addressing the Ise Ekiti inhabitants on the significance of the exercise, Mrs Afuye stated that health and human services was a premium priority of the Governor Biodun Oyebanji-led government, which buttressed that the general wellbeing of Ekiti people is paramount to the current administration.
The Deputy governor, expressed the government’s zealous and incurable willingness to prosecute the monthly programme to safeguard the health of the populace and avert untimely death.
She said; “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 appealed to the council bosses across the state to instruct its Sanitation Department to mount aggressive campaign against indisriminate dumping of refuse and sewages in canals and residential areas.
Mrs Afuye added ; “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”.
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 monarch, 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.
The monarch said; “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”.