Akwa Ibom State has emerged the cleanest state in Nigeria for the year 2020.
This was announced by Clean Up Nigeria (CUN)during the 2020 public presentation of the state of the Nigerian Environment Report.
During the briefing, Akwa Ibom State was declared winner for the third time in the last four years by the National Technical Study Group of the Nation’s Cleanliness Index
Ratings for states of the Federation.
The state scored a total of 80 percent with its closest rival Ebonyi State polling a total ofi 44 percent.
The chairman of the committee, Prof Solomon Balogun, flanked by the secretary, Chief Ene Babawo in the virtual meeting revealed that the graphic statistics on monitoring / evaluation of states was classified into five indicators namely street and road 30%, vegetation and drains 30%, waste management 30%, public opinion and knowledge attitude 10% and practice of personal hygiene and sanitation 10%.
He also noted that the statistics was categorised into four quarters making for the year 2020.
“In the year 2020, during the lock down a lot of states relaxed and failed to clean up, however Akwa Ibom State and Lagos state increased distillation and clean up of their environments.”
“Akwa Ibom State scored 23 in street and road cleanliness, 16 in vegetation and drains, 25 in waste management, 8 in public opinion and knowledge attitude 9 in practice of personal hygiene and sanitation.”
Also, at the Geopolitical level, Akwa Ibom emerged overall best among the 6 states making up the south- south geopolitical Zone while Uyo emerged as the second cleanest city in Nigeria with 63% after Abuja which is the Capital city of Nigeria.
The chairman of the technical committee however adviced government at all levels including individuals to take seriously knowledge attribute and practice of personal hygiene and sanitation in other to improve the living conditions and average life expectancy in Nigeria.
He also advised the private sector to assist the government in Providing sanitation and waste management facilities to help end open defecation in Nigeria.
In his reaction, Prince Ikim, the chairman of the Akwa Ibom Waste Management and Environmental Protection Agency, who attended the meeting on behalf of the state government commended Governor Udom Emmanuel for investing massively in making Akwa Ibom a clean and safe state for a healthy population.
He promised to continue to evolve strategies in line with the modern trend, in interpreting the vision of the Governor and thanked Clean Up Nigeria for being fair in their ratings.
