- Akwa Ibom Emerges Nigeria’s Cleanest State
- Ebonyi Comes Second
By Abdulrahman Aliagan, Abuja
Since 2018, Nigeria has again been rated as the first in the hierarchy of countries of the world that defecate openly, back-to-back up till 2022. This was made known in Abuja at a public presentation of a report of the study, Cleanliness Performance Index (CPI) rating for a full calendar year starting from December 2021 to November, 2022 conducted by the Clean-Up Nigeria, a non-governmental organization.
According to the report, “Nigeria, nevertheless, still remains the number one country in the world that leads in open defecation since 2018 to 2022 (back to back). Less than 10 per cent compared to 2 per cent in 2021 improvement was recorded in the procurement of waste management equipment by
less than 3 states in the country in 2022″.
The study which was powered by international organisations, further disclosed that the informal sector operators of waste recycling and re-use enterprises recorded higher patronage, as their activities increased from 50 per cent in 2021 to 31 per cent in 2022.
It further shows the statistical analysis of the different stages of our evaluated results on a quarterly basis to the final results, that enable all to appreciate the scope of work, thoroughness, credibility and undeviating devotion the National technical study group headed by Prof. Solomon Balogun put and our international partnersin to arriving at this all important and unbiased national/global environmental assignment.
Chairman, State Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency, Obong Prince Ikim
In the same study, Akwa Ibom State again came first as the cleanest state in Nigeria while Ebonyi state came second. The study, less than three states scored above 40 per cent when compared to 2021 where three states, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi and Bauchi states scored above 40 per cent.
Announcing the result in Abuja, the National Co-ordinator, Clean-Up Nigeria, Prince Ene Baba Owoh regretted that funding by states/local governments for waste management services has reduced drastically when compared to the increased services offered.
“This equally calls for serious incremental review on the part of governments at all levels” he said.
According to Owoh, the incidence and prevalence of sanitation-related diseases has
increased from 32 per cent to 51 per cent in Nigeria. This intake was elevated to 51.2 per cent more by the flood disaster in the last quarter of 2022.
“Inadequate sanitation/hygiene practices of the people in over 35 states and the FCT was made worse by flood that effected most communities as people were made to live in inhabitable situation to survive” the co-coordinator, explained, adding that the practice of open defecation in all the 36 states of the federation and FCT has reduced from 34 per cent in 2021 to 28 per cent in 2022.
Cross-session of Award winner with the Organisaer of the event
It also observed that, “Less than 10% compared to 2% in 2021 improvement was recorded in the procurement of waste management equipment by less than 3 States in the country in 2022, and with working drop in waste management equipment as most previously on ground became unserviceable couple with high cost of service provision especially diesel salary at over 900 Naira against N250,000 naira in 2022.
“Funding by States/Local Government Councils for waste management services has reduced drastically when compared to the increase services offered. This equally calls for serious incremental review on the part of governments at all levels to help confront the challenges of ensuring a cleaner, healthy and safer environment.
“Improvement of the health of sanitation workers employed both by government and private sectors to provide waste management services fell from 36% in 2021 to 16% in 2022.
Owoh also stated that the expected impact of the study is “To provide environmental data base on the State of the Nigeria environment yearly with special focus on cleanliness, and flooding, raise the bar on cleanest index nationwide, improving the people’s living standards as well as reducing the incidence of sanitation related diseases, i.e malaria/thyroid in order to promote healthy living.
The report is also expected to “Stimulate re-use and recycling industries in the country, bringing hygiene, sanitation and waste management to the front burner of all Stakeholders and use the scientific index ratings of all states/cities in the country to draw the attention of government at all levels as well as using the study’s findings as catalyst for the modernization of waste management services.
‘Increase citizenship knowledge, attitude and hygiene practices; ultimately provide the drive for increase employment in the overall sector, ensure accurate flood disaster early warning signs and follow-up and ensuring timely evaluation/resume mission on affected flooded community by governments as all levels.
“It is imperative to know that the year 2022 study has the input of 70% satellite monitoring with the applied performance indicators early stated to score across board the ratings of States/Cities on their Cleanliness Performance.
The study recommends that “The Federal Government should ensure accurate flood disaster early warning system and follow-up with all fierd of government, humanitarian and international support.
It added that the “Flood disaster prevention master plan for the country should be institutized and made an integral part of NEMA with legislation Law to ensure compliance and relief materials and access to victims of not only flood disaster henceforth should be timely and a practors a focal while point of all government and non-government organization should be sustainable. It concluded.
CUN condoles the families of flood disaster victims, in his statement, he said, “our heart and condolences goes out to the Hundreds of lives lost and millions of international displaced people in the worst flood disaster in the country in recent times, while calling our government and cooperate bodies to continue to render more assistance, we are not mindful of the synergy from non-governmental organization’s like CUN both within and outside the country that will help ameliorate the sufferings of IDP and preventive measures that would have averted. The deaths and displace persons if access to rescue and relief material reached them timely.
One of the highlights of the event was the presentation of the award to people and government of Akwa Ibom state for her emergence as the Cleanest State for the year 2022 in Nigeria, with a cumulative score of 62% and the 2nd and 3rd States (Ebonyi 45% and Bauchi 44%) and also Abuja capital city for emerging the cleanest city in Nigeria for year 2022 with 79% closely followed by Uyo with 63%. While appreciating the winning States the back states and Town/Cities need to seriously step up the performances and improve their living environment for all.
Responding, the Chairman, State Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency, Obong Prince Ikim, and Ebonyi State Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Richard Nnabu, dedicated the awards to their state governors
