Govt Tasks ASATU Members On Sustainable Environment Practices

AGWARA CHIMDIEBERE OBIDIGBO 

The Anambra State Government, through the Commissioner for Environment, Engr. Dr. Felix Odimegwu, at the ASATU Secretariat, Government House, Awka yesterday, charged the President General of communities in Anambra to be participators and not spectators towards the environment due to the peculiarity of the Anambra environment.

The Commissioner, while appreciating their roles in leadership and administration, beckoned them to critically and intentionally work in line with the enabling community environmental sustainability frameworks because it would help every community take ownership of environmental management peculiar to their respective communities through collaboration, education, and proactive measures.

Furthermore, he explained that through the effective implementation of the framework, thay every community stakeholder could work together effectively to address environmental challenges such as waste management, erosion, flooding, deforestation, illegal structural planning, drainage system, construction, sand mining and others.

Odimegwu charged them to be the pace-setters in the environmental protection approach by setting up an environmental committee in their respective communities keeping in mind that the Anambra environment is an existential threat.

Additionally, he thanked Umueze Anam in Anambra West, Umueri in Anambra East, and Ifite-Ogwari in Ayamelum LGAs for taking the first, second, and third positions respectively during the pilot scheme of ‘ALL ANAMBRA COMMUNITIES PLASTIC PICK-UP CHALLENGE’, where over 10,000.00 tonnes of plastics were taken off the Anambra environment. He called on them to get ready for the second phase by setting up collation centres in their respective communities and create proper awareness because according to him, every plastic picked must be weighed and paid off with a star price at the end of the challenge.

Responding, the National President of ASATU, Chief Barr. Akpudo Titus, thanked Mr. Governor, Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo for setting an adequate, sustainable, enabling, organic environmental protective approach for Anambra State.

He commended the Commissioner for driving the environment initiatives. He further beckoned the President-Generals of various towns to carefully and critically study the frameworks and set up an environmental committee to see to the early detection and prevention of any form of environmental challenge.

Questions, opinions, and views were shared during the interaction before the Framework For Enabling Community Environmental Sustainability was officially handed over to the National President of ASATU by Mr. Commissioner.