BUT the re-introduction of environmental sanitation exercise to Osun State came as a child of necessity. The exercise, which was engendered by the 90-day Environment Emergency is an essential tool for reawakening consciousness of and commitment to healthy living among the people. As a matter of fact, the programme could not have been more necessary at any other time than now. Now, when we are just breaking loose from the shackles of rot, decay and devastation; inflicted on the people by their common enemies. Now that we are basking under the bright sunshine of liberty and freedom – shaking off the cold caught from the drenching flood of yesteryears.
The 90-day emergency programme, which was carefully packaged, is being meticulously prosecuted. By the contents of the programme, the clear intention is to make cleanliness a creed among our people. Thursdays are scheduled for sanitation at designated market places across the state. Between the hours of 7 o'clock and 9 o'clock in the morning, market men and women are expected to troop out to clean their surroundings. Local government councils are already proving that they are worth their salt in effective implementation and monitoring of sanitation activities at these market places. Reports have it that the Caretaker Chairman for Ifelodun Local Government Council, Honourable Lawal Olayiwola Sanusi suspended business at the popular Thursday Market at Ikirun, the seat of the council until sanitation conditions of the market showed appreciable improvements. Kudos to that grassroots boss for his bold, valiant step! The recent lift on the suspension came only after strict adherence and change of attitude had been ensured. That move by Honourable Sanusi was not oppressive – it was made to make our environment more befitting, more decent.
Fridays are meant for sanitation at schools, offices and other public places. The hours between 8 o'clock and 10 o'clock in the morning are assigned to this vital service. Our schools in particular had become fallow land with bushes as thick as could house wildest beasts. It took OSUN DEFENDER Magazine several editions before the management of the Osun State Polytechnic (OSPOLY), Iree woke up to the necessity of clearing the bushes on the institution's premises. That was in 2009. Ditto was the case with the Osun State College of Education (OSCOED), Ilesa. This is not to mention our primary and secondary schools. At the kick-off of the exercise, the premises of some ministries at the Osun State Secretariat, Abere came under serious inspection by the state Deputy Governor, Otunba Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori who ordered immediate clean-up of affected areas. These trends of events are convincing proofs that we more than need the emergency in environmental sanitation now, and for continued appropriation in future.
On Saturdays, general environmental sanitation exercise is billed to take place between the hours of 7 o'clock and 10 o'clock in the morning. During that time, there is restriction of human and vehicular movement throughout the nooks and crannies of the state. Everyone is expected to participate in the exercise. To ensure strict adherence, various environmental protection agencies, law enforcement agencies, the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) volunteer cadets, top government officials and other stakeholders are expected to be mobilised for effective supervision. This edition of OSUN DEFENDER Magazine trails the third edition of these programme schedules. We confess that it had been a wonderful experience so far. Effective as the programme are, our cities, towns and villages have been ridded of filth and heaps of garbage.
Last week a telecast on OSBCTV (Osun State Broadcasting Corporation Television) captured two scenes where the State Deputy Governor took active part in supervising the previous Saturday's general environmental sanitation exercise. The first scene featured a set of children who were deeply absorbed in the weeding of their home surroundings. The second one showed another set of youths who defied the rule but instead engaged in playing football. The former earned the Deputy Governor's commendation while the latter got a rebuke.
The latter of the two just-narrated scenes gives a clear picture of extent of damage that had been inflicted on our youths. Football is a real good sporting event. But it is better played at right time and on right occasions. Our youths need be inculcated with values which would make them responsible and law-abiding citizens. More than any other group of people, OSUN DEFENDER Magazine charges parents to be more alive to their duties in upholding right values in their wards. This is one sure way of brightening future prospects for them and ensuring better society with higher standard of living.
Apart from the children captured in the first scene cited above, there is a cross-section of other youths who volunteered their brains, energy, time and all. Most of them buried their pride, sacrificing their paper qualifications in the process. They volunteered to take up jobs which some others considered far too petty or menial for their calibre. These youths are productively engaged daily to ensure a better society. They deserve understanding, cooperation and support from all of us. They are the volunteer cadets of the Osun State Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES). They are a strong pillar in the ongoing environmental sanitation crusade and urban renewal drive of the incumbent administration. For this reason, the next segment of this report shall be devoted to this class of youths.
However, reports reaching our desk inform us that children or youths are not the only ones guilty of breaking the sanitation order in vogue in the state. A good number of adults of different ages also break the rule in stark daylight and in full glare of children.
In this direction, we have a lot to do in the area of social reengineering, public enlightenment and value reorientation. OSUN DEFENDER Magazine owes it a duty to first expose these violators as a guide to concerned monitoring teams, so as to arrest the awkward situation.
Impeccable sources revealed to OSUN DEFENDER Magazine that traders and buyers at some designated market places defied the general environmental sanitation exercise which coincided with their market days. Reports haven it that at a popular market in a part of the ancient town of Ede in Ede North Local Government Area of Osun State, market businesses were conducted with impunity, even while the three-hour exercise was supposed to be in full force. We are convinced that youths and children present at that market would, consciously or unconsciously, be acquiring negative values from the elders, who they view as model of desirable conducts.
In a similar report made available to OSUN DEFENDER Magazine desk, some markets also opened for business in Ife South Local Government Area of the state on some general environmental sanitation days during the active hours. Our reports are eye-witness accounts of journalists who were on monitoring tour across the state during the exercise.
In another development, there was a reported case of a defiant law enforcement agent (police or member of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps-NSCDC) who prevented some journalists from carrying out their constitutional duties during one of the editions of the environmental sanitation exercise. It is surprising that such sabotage could come from a trained security officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, even in this era of Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. The organizers need to enlighten these security personnel the more on why they should consider journalists as partners-in-progress in the exercise and in the Osun Project.
Osun Defender