Deputy Governor of Imo State, His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Gerald Irona, on Saturday assured people of the state that the government under the leadership of Governor Emeka Ihedioha would return Owerri to its former status as the cleanest city in Nigeria, even as he lauded the efforts of the Director General of Imo State Environmental Transformation Commission (ENTRACO), Alex Emeziem, for what he described as his superlative performance.

He gave the assurance after monitoring the environmental sanitation exercise held in the state, saying that it was in line with the Go-Green-Stay Clean policy of the state government.

“We moved round the city and we saw the people cleaning their surroundings. We are impressed with that and we want to support the ENTRACO DG and his team to keep Owerri clean and regain its past glory as the cleanest city in the country,” Irona assured.

The Deputy Governor said that the state government would take steps to address the challenge of indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the state capital, assuring also that the government would provide refuse bins which would be stationed at strategic locations.

“You can see the heaps of refuse around and people live around here. I think the Director General of ENTRACO and SA to the Governor on Sanitation would evolve a radical approach to reducing the level of indiscriminate dumping of refuse. For now, there are designated areas where inhabitants dump their refuse. But, I think we can go beyond that by introducing refuse bins which would be stationed at strategic places so that government agents would come around and evacuate them, instead of dumping them indiscriminately,” he said.

Irona expressed satisfaction with the level of compliance with the sanitation exercise, stressing that the state has departed from the culture of not observing the environmental sanitation exercise. He also commended the Director General of ENTRACO and SA to the Governor on Sanitation, saying that the level of sensitisation carried out on the exercise and the level of compliance by the people were commendable.

“Let me commend the Director General of ENTRACO on the level of sensitisation and compliance by the inhabitants of Owerri. You would see that most of the inhabitants of Owerri were seen cleaning the drainages and involved in carting away refuse.

“This is a very clear departure from what we inherited, where people were not even aware that they ought to observe the sanitation day. But with the coming on board of the ENTRACO DG and the level of sensitisation that has been carried out, you would agree with me that we witnessed high level of compliance. It was commendable.”

Highlight of the inspection was the Deputy Governor’s observation of a Mobile Court, where persons accused of violating sanitation regulations were tried.

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