- Federal Government should not contemplate bringing back nation-wide ‘environmental sanitation’
Nigerians who thought they were done with the ritual of the country-wide monthly environmental sanitisation exercise may soon find that they are mistaken. At a tripartite National Inter-ministerial Committee meeting on Lassa fever last week, Environment Minister, Amina Mohammed, announced the plan by the Federal Government to bring back the monthly National Environmental Sanitation Day (NESD) originally introduced by the Buhari Administration in 1984.
According to the minister, “the fact that Nigerians had voluntarily continued the practice for 32 years after it was first introduced was a clear indication that it was in the overall interest of the nation”.
This time around, the minister is looking at the possibility of a partnership with corporate organisations, states and local governments to repackage the programme just as she informed that a “comprehensive process of consultation, including discussions on the best practices to adopt would be one of the high points of discussions at the National Council on Environment (NSE) due to hold in Lafia, Nasarawa State, in the coming weeks.
The minister’s effort in this regard is clearly misdirected. It may well be true that ‘environmental sanitation’ has endured in several states across the federation. There is also no doubt that the programme was immensely popular when it was introduced in the mid-eighties. Just as true however is that the practice has become a relic of a past era. Indeed, it would seem to us that the minister is thinking of bringing it back only because the leader who introduced the programme more than three decades ago is back in power. That we consider as sheer hubris.
Of course, the minister’s claim about voluntary compliance is as tenuous as its so-called relevance is exaggerated. Fact is that the day is observed more in the breach in the present time; while in some of the states where it is still being observed at all, it is treated as one of those meaningless rituals as against being a day devoted to any serious clean up of the environment.
Today, the practice has not only become anachronistic, it is doubtful that Nigerians would endorse the idea of bringing back the practice which comes with putting the entire country under total lockdown once a month for whatever reasons and with it the attendant loss of unquantifiable man-hours. Secondly, the new plan obviously ignores the several initiatives by market unions, community development associations and other countless non-governmental organisations in the area of keeping the environment clean at all times. Equally noteworthy is that several states have integrated the clean-up activities of these organisations into their programmes. To the extent that environmental cleanliness is for all times and seasons, the country at this time does not need a special day for that exercise.
We agree that states and the local governments can do more to improve sanitation and general cleanliness across the board. We also agree that there is a lot of room for collaboration among the different tiers of government. However, such collaboration should preclude the monthly ritual which offers nothing but symbolism. Each state should therefore be left to determine whether or not to set aside special dates or times for such exercises.
With more serious issues of climate change, global warming and ecology thrust to attend to, the Federal Government cannot be seen to suffer the distraction of delving into matters that the states and local governments are best placed to deal with.
