Ekiti State government has expressed concern over the lacklustre attitude of residents to observing the monthly environmental sanitation in the state.

The deputy governor, Monisade Afuye, said this on Saturday while monitoring the monthly exercise in the Ise-Ekiti at Ise/Orun Local Government Area of the state.

Ms Afuye performed the duty in the company of the Secretary to the State Government, Habibat Adubiaro, the chairman of Ise/Orun Council, Ayodele Akinluyi, and market women, among other government functionaries.

During the monitoring exercise, the deputy governor waited at Ogbese, Obada, and Afolu, which are farmsteads under Ise- Ekiti, and enforced strict compliance with environmental policy among rural dwellers, especially the Hausa community and operators of local palm oil-producing facilities in the area.

The deputy governor expressed the government’s zealousness and willingness to prosecute the monthly programme to safeguard the populace’s health and avert untimely death.

“We have gone round and discovered that our people are not really complying with this monthly exercise, and this was the same all over Ekiti. To us, it is worrisome and unacceptable.

“Ekiti had been rated as having the highest life expectancy in Nigeria by reputable international organisations, and this programme is an avenue to ensure that opportunistic killer diseases don’t have their ways in our dear state,” she said.

She appealed to council bosses across the state to instruct their sanitation departments to mount an aggressive campaign against indiscriminate dumping of refuse and sewage in canals and residential areas.

“Diseases like cholera, whooping cough, scabies, and others can easily break out due to poor hygiene and environmental health. And these are diseases that have been adjudged as great killers of souls, so we have to prevent them.

“I want to plead with our people to take this programme very seriously. It was conceptualised to safeguard their lives.

“Our people must know that health is wealth. You can only pursue your day-to-day activities when you are healthy,” Ms Afuye added.

The Secretary to the State Government expressed disgust at the poor compliance observed in the council, saying this could pose health hazards to the populace.

(NAN)