World Clean Up Day 2024
NGO Says Sanitation Should Be A Daily Priority
As part of their unwavering commitment to bringing to glare the nexus between environment and health, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), C-Circle Foundation for Sustainable Health and Environment has joined forces with the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) to mark world clean-up day 2024, with campaign slogan ‘Make Room for Life’.
The event which took place at Jabi Forest Mechanic Village in Abuja aims to inspire global communities to adopt sustainable cleaning practice that protect the environment.
Speaking at the event, the Team Lead of the group, Dr. Chimere May Ohajinwa, emphasized the numerous benefits of community clean-up events.
She said these benefits includes; raising awareness, fostering collaboration, achieving large-scale impact, collecting data for policy development, and inspiring long-term sanitation practices.
Dr. Ohajinwa stressed that while World Clean Up Day is an annual event, sanitation should be a daily priority.
According to her, ‘the first time the team arrived at Jabi Forest Mechanic Village, the team discovered that the whole environment was littered with fits, a concerning lack of sanitation facilities, and a reliance on open defecation.
The mechanics and other workers attributed the practice of dirty environment and poor waste management to the demolition of their former restrooms and their perceived status as illegal occupants’.
Despite recent efforts by AEPB, some areas in Abuja like Jabi Forest, lack of public awareness about pollution presents a huge environmental challenge.
Assistant Chief Environmental Health Officer representing the AEPB, Omenta Racheal, commended C-Circle Foundation for Sustainable Health and Environment for their dedication to environmental health awareness.
She highlighted the severe health consequences of a dirty environment and the importance of tackling this issue.
The chairman of the mechanics at Jabi Forest Mechanic Village, Mr. Ajayi expressed his appreciation for the clean-up initiative.
He acknowledged the positive impact of maintaining proper hygiene and preventing the spread of diseases, flooding, and environmental pollution.
At the end of the cleanup exercised, over 1000kg of waste were gathered, with AEPB providing a compactor truck that evacuated the waste to Abuja landfill site.
In 2021, the State of the Nigeria Environment Report, by an organization Clean-up Nigeria revealed that over 172 million (80%) Nigerians live in unclean environments, and 34 states rely on open dumping practices.
On 8 December 2023, the United Nations General Assembly, in its seventy-eighth session, unanimously adopted resolution 78/122 “World Cleanup Day”, which proclaims 20 September as World Cleanup Day.
The resolution invites all Member States, organizations of the United Nations system, other international and regional organizations, and other relevant stakeholders; including civil society, the private sector and academia to observe World Cleanup Day through activities aimed at raising awareness of the role clean-up efforts play in sustainable development.