The Director-General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Major-General Shuaibu Ibrahim, has emphasised that environmental protection and sanitation have become inseparable for a stable, healthy and sustainable ecosystem.
General Shuaibu made the assertion on Saturday in Bauchi while flagging off the NYSC national environmental sanitation exercise in Bauchi State.
Represented by the Bauchi State NYSC Coordinator, Namadi Abubakar, Shuaibu informed corps members that the environmental sanitation exercise, with the theme, “Clean Environment/Good Hygiene: Panacea for Good Health and Long Life”, was taking place in all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The DG said environmental sanitation was a global issue being a key requirement for the prevention of diseases, adding that every member of the society had to be mobilised to participate in having a clean environment.
In his words, “As you are already aware, environmental sanitation has been recognised globally as one of the key requirements for the prevention of diseases and their escalation to epidemic proportions.
“On this premise, efforts must be stepped up to enlighten the general public, especially the rural dwellers, on the health risks of poor hygiene with particular focus on the prevention of contamination of food, water and the entire environment.
“To achieve this, every member of the community will be mobilised for participation in the exercise, which will feature sensitisation, disease surveillance and report of outbreaks.
“Indeed, the call to action will promote cooperation and reduce indifference and ignorance.”
He added that the Scheme would educate the public on the decontamination of foods as well as the disinfection of the environment such as the living rooms, toilets, public spaces, handling of toxic materials and tree planting to support a healthy ecosystem, among others.
Shuaibu, however, lauded the Bauchi State government, traditional rulers and other stakeholders for their collaboration with the NYSC in ensuring effective environmental sanitation in the state.
Speaking at the event, the Director-General, Bauchi State Environmental Protection Agency (BASEPA), Mr Ibrahim Kabir, lauded the NYSC for organising the environmental sanitation exercise in the state.
The BASEPA boss then promised that his agency would continue to support and partner with NYSC whenever the need arises.
In her remarks, the Deputy Director, NYSC Directorates, Headquarters and Monitoring Office, Mrs Esther Kadiri, while calling on corps members to take the sanitation exercise serious, said she would be visiting all the 20 local government areas of the state to monitor the exercise as being conducted by the corps members in the state.
