Kogi Government on Saturday expressed satisfaction over the high compliance by the people and their cooperation to participate in the June sanitation exercise in the state.
The State Commissioner of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr Sanusi Yahaya, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen shortly after the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in Lokoja.
“This month’s sanitation exercise witnessed a high compliance than the previous ones, it is a better outing today, we thank God for what we have been able to do.
“It is going to improve as it is getting better month by month. There is no traffic jam at Nataco junction today which used to be a very sensitive spot during sanitation day,” Yahaya said.
The commissioner, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mrs Hannah Odiyo, attributed the success to the Nigerian Army’s participation in the exercise as part of activities to mark their Army Day Celebration.
According to the commissioner, the Nigerian Army is celebrating their Day, and one of the activities is to engage in the sanitation which coincided with our monthly sanitation day, so, we are happy because the army is collaborating with us.
“The monthly exercise is to actually change people’s mentality about sanitation and inculcate the habit of cleanliness into them to a point where we don’t need to compel the people to clean their environment before they do so.
“On behalf of the commissioner, and the Kogi Government, I want to express our gratitude to the army record office for coming out today to identify with us;” Odiyo said.
The Commander, Command Army Records Headquarters, Lokoja, Major Gen. Felix Agugo, told journalists that the army’s participation in sanitation exercise was just one of the activities often conducted to foster Civil-Military Cooperation.
“Today is a normal state monthly sanitation and the army are out as a way of identifying with the people of Nigeria and particularly Kogi residents to associate with the good work they are doing in keeping the environment clean.
“For people to know that we are also human beings and we also participate in human activities like cleaning the environment.
“It is for people outside to see soldiers as people who only belongs to the barracks or to the forest, but we also engender what we called “Civil-Military Cooperation.
“This is very important in our work especially the military’s involvement in operations against terrorism, militancy called ‘Internal Security Operations’, where we are conducting operations in eight of the civil authority.
“This is one of the reasons why we are getting involved and increasing our tempo in things that help the citizens; Particularly, today’s event is meant to mark the Nigerian Army Day Celebration, which is a week long celebration that is comemorated on July 7.
“We are thanking the people of Kogi, who have come out en masse to support us and identify with us and I believed it has been a successful exercise.
Agugo, however, commended Kogi Government for making that the confluence city more cleaner and tidy far more than it used to be before, saying the people in-charge were doing a good and urged them to keep it up.
Mr Solomon Nuhu Ayehu, the Deputy National President, Environmental Health Officers Association of Nigeria (EHOAN), commended the Nigerian Army for the initiative to participate in sanitation exercise, saying the collaborative efforts was worthy of commendation.
“Every society that actually need health for her people must take sanitation activities very seriously because more than 60 to 70 per cent of the disease human beings are suffering today are directly from our environment,” Ayehu said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN reports that the Nigerian Army also offered a free medical treatment for the vulnerable people in Lokoja with free drugs to mark the 2018 Army Day Celebration.
- NAN
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