Environmental hygiene is fundamental to our health, and social well-being as well as preventing us from contracting various diseases caused by pollution. As humans, we are interconnected with our environment. Our built and natural environment is not just a place for us to live. A spotless environment leads to living in physical and mental health.
Environmental hygiene is the relationship between humans and their surroundings. This includes pollution, access to potable water, shelter, and other infrastructural issues that impact public health.
Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, is one of the states in Nigeria that has high improper waste disposal and poor environmental hygiene. Most of such waste can be reused and circled which would help in the prevention of high waste disposal.
Although the the Borno state government under the leadership of Professor Babagana Umara Zulum has created and implemented a policy of conducting monthly sanitation exercises across the metropolis, the Maiduguri community members are not adhering strictly to the rules and thus few sanitise their surroundings. The government has also provided trash cans in various passages of the city yet, the public does not use these cans in the manner they are provided.
Unfortunately, the practice of dumping refuse in inappropriate places, not cutting grown-up grasses, and blockage of drainages with waste, among others, are still rampant in the metropolis.
Consequently, the aforementioned factors can lead to mosquitoes growing as there is stagnant water, which later causes malaria as well as other communicable and non-communicable diseases.
Above all, the government should continue to provide trash cans in various areas, and they should enforce discipline in the citizens’ behaviour, like paying fines when dumping rubbish in an inappropriate place. Also, People should take full responsibility for making sure our environment is clean and tidy. Abiding by the rules enforced on monthly sanitation requires collective efforts to achieve results.
Fatima Ibrahim Yagana,
Department of Mass Communication,
University of Maiduguri