By Sylvia Okoi
Calabar, Nigeria – As a deliberate effort to ensure a clean environment during the 2024 Calabar Christmas Festival that culminates into the famous Carnival Calabar, the Cross River State Government has revealed plans to commence weekly sanitation across the major markets in Calabar Metropolis in December.
The Commissioner for Environment, Hon. Moses Osogi, disclosed to newsmen shortly after the November edition of the statewide sanitation exercise, weekend.
The Commissioner stated that Cross River State will take a new look in terms of cleanliness as part of the Ministry’s efforts in addressing environmental menace, especially as the yuletide seasons draw closer, positing that regular desilting of drains and waste evacuation will be heightened to accommodate the influx of tourists and visitors.
He added that the State Government is making plans to provide more dumpsters for proper waste management in the metropolis, adding that the weekly exercise boosts the sanitary condition of the State.
Emphasising Governor Bassey Edet Otu’s mandate of prioritising the socio-economic well-being of the citizenry, Commissioner Osogi explained that with a cleaner State, tourist activities in the month of December will strive better, pointing out that the news about Cross River as the Cleanest State will be spread wide by its visitors.
In his assessment of the November sanitation exercise, Hon. Osogi praised residents for the high level of compliance recorded, especially those who painstakingly participated in the exercise, describing the act as the highest form of patriotism.
In their separate interviews, some residents who spoke unanimously appreciated the sustained efforts of the Government, stating that they are happy to contribute their own quota to the development of the state, admitting that the sanitation exercise has helped to keep all forms of diseases at bay.
The Commissioner was accompanied on the inspection exercise by his Permanent Secretary, Barr. Rosemary Onah, Directors and Staff of the Ministry, Non-Governmental Organisations, and security groups.
During the inspection exercise, notably, residents were seen clearing grasses around their residence and sweeping and desilting drainages, which is a clear indication that the advocacy campaign over the past months has indeed been imbibed by them and a culture of good environmental sanitation and hygiene practices institutionalised.
