. . . Vows to Prosecute Defaulters
By Abuchi Onwumelu
Anambra Ministry of Environment, has taken the Operation Dobe Anambra Ocha Campaign to major cities, markets and shops, especially Onitsha, Idemili North, Ogbaru and some parts of Anambra State, including Awka, Ekwulobia and Nnewi.
Fides reports that the ministry has continued to make serious inroads into major parts of Anambra State.
Operation Dobe Anambra Ocha, according to the Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Obi Nwankwo, was aimed at ensuring a clean and healthy environment in Anambra State.
Markets and popular areas visited included Ajasa, New and Old Market Roads, Woliwo, Ose Okwodu, Ochanja, all in Onitsha. Other markets visited were Afor-Igwe Umudioka, Oye Olisa, Nkwo Ogidi, Afor Nkpor, Nkpor Junction, Bridge-Head Market, Iron Rod Market, Atani Road, Idemili Market, Atani Road, Obodokwu Road, Onitsha, and Awada Obosi.
At each of the places visited by the team, the message remained loud and the same: that everyone understood the collective importance of keeping where they lived and did business tidy, and in line with the Anambra State Environmental Safety standards.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Anambra State on Environment, Hon. Chido Obidiegwu, said the campaign was designed to run down to the monthly sanitation day which took place last Saturday, and maintained that it was no longer business as usual for those who abused the environment.
For his part, Mr. Stanley Nkwoka, another aide to the Governor of Anambra State on Environment, said the exercise, which began over two weeks ago, had achieved a huge percentage of the intended result, with most residents now aware of what the government expected from them in terms of disposing of their wastes adequately, cleaning their gutters, and cutting down overgrown grasses around their environment.
For Mr Daniel Martins, the Zonal Commander, Idemili North of Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra, OCHA Brigade, necessary efforts should be made to establish the proposed mobile courts where those who violated environmental laws would be prosecuted.
Mrs Eucharia Okonkwo, a road-side seller at Nkpor Junction Axis, and Mrs Ebere Anierobi, a petty trader at the Idemili Market, Atani Road, both agreed with the government’s policies on the environment and pledged to keep their surroundings clean.
