Sustainable Environment, Key to Healthy Society - Omokhodion

By Lucky Isibor

The Edo State Commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Arc. Joshua Omokhodion has restated the state government's commitment to providing the enabling infrastructures to ensure a clean, safe and healthy environment for its citizens.

The commissioner who stated this in his remarks while playing host to the executive members of the National Environment Management and Toxicology Students Association who paid a courtesy visit on the ministry recently noted that the "success and sustainability of any society depends solely on the environment, and residents can only be productive when they adhere strictly to healthy environmental practices".

The commissioner assured that the state government is bequeathing a safe and clean environment by building infrastructures that will help protect the environment, adding that the environment belongs to the people and not the government, which is an institution.

He explained that the ministry is embarking on an aggressive campaign that will instill in the citizens the consciousness to own their environment and take proactive steps like tree planting, separation of wastes by removing the plastics which are not biodegradable and send for recycling, before evacuation, dumping refuse in the right spots, and bagging of wastes, with environmental issues being topical at the primary school level.

Arc. Omokhodion, while assuring them of the ministry’s readiness to collaborate with the association, urged them to continue to be ambassadors of the environment by preaching the gospel of a healthy environment.

President of the association, Emmanuel Omorogbe, who congratulated the commissioner on his appointment, said they were in the ministry to inform its management on their forthcoming summit, which said would promote awareness about the challenges confronting the environment.