By Edeniyere Abraham Osose
Sequel to the recently launched Environmental Protection Volunteer Outfit and the ongoing ‘Operation Clean Edo,’ a campaign championed by the Edo State Government, the Edo State Waste Management Board (EWMB) has further partnered with the Actor Guild of Nigeria (AGN) to strengthen this campaign.
This was made known by the General Manager, Edo Waste Management Board, Mr. Charles Osadebamen Imariagbe during the sensitization, clean-up exercise and road-show rally at Airport Road and environs in Benin City.
He called on Edo residents to desist from indiscriminate dumping of refuse and littering of the environment in order to have a clean Edo that will attract investors from all walks of life.
Mr. Imariagbe noted that the objective of the exercise is to sensitize and inform the people about the importance of keeping their surroundings clean, as the theme of the campaign was titled ‘Cleanliness.’
According to him, “If you recall, we recently launched the campaign on #EdoMUSTbeCLEAN, and we have a lot of volunteers that are working with us, which is called the Environmental Protection Volunteer. Edo State Waste Management Board, following the directive of Mr. Governor, trying to keep the entire City clean, we have been on this campaign, doing sensitization rallies, and we have been moving from place to place, evacuating waste in different locations, and not also failing to serve notices where people have faltered or erred.
“We are just by one facility now, where overtime we have given the people notices, warning them to keep their premises clean, but they have always refused to obey the law; today an arrest has been effected. So, this will let the people know that it is no longer business as usual.”
He said, “We have also done a lot of collaborations and stakeholder meetings with people, and they will be given abetment notices, even summoned in the court, but these people have consistently flouted the order and notices; so arrest has come.
“This is just to put it out there for the people to be aware that going forward, if you don’t keep your premises neat, eyes of the law will catch up with you. The Government is watching; we are going round everywhere and with our team, health officers and our volunteers on environmental protection, we are making sure Edo State is clean.”
In his words, “We are going to sustain this campaign with the help of our stakeholders, well-meaning civil society organisation members, and of course with the media supporting us as well, to make sure that that directive, that dream of Mr. Governor to make Edo the cleanest is achieved.”
On his part, the Chairman, Actor Guild of Nigeria, Edo State Chapter, Mr. Okute Sindarin, said:
“The Actor Guild of Nigeria, Edo State Chapter, in collaboration with Edo State Waste Management Board, Civil society, and Environmental Right Action decided to come together to see how we can sensitize the people on the importance of cleanliness, and we see what Edo State Government is doing to make sure Edo State is clean.”
“A lot of persons have been sick and they don’t know why, and most times when they are diagnosed the result is because of the environment. We want to tell Edo people to try and keep their environment clean because God himself is clean and because of that the scripture makes us understand that the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in a filthy environment because cleanliness is next to godliness. When we are clean, we have a lot of benefits to enjoy,” he added.
On the area of sustainability of the campaign, he noted that “it is not a jamboree; it is going to be very-very sustainable. This is what we are going to be doing regularly. For now, we started with Airport Road; we will go to Ikpoba-Hill, and we will go to different places, the nooks and crannies of Edo State to make sure the people understand the importance of this campaign.”
Others in attendance are members of Actor Guild of Nigeria, Civil Society, Environmental Right Action, Environmental Health Officers, evacuation team, amongst other relevant stakeholders.
