The cherished drive for a Clean, Green and Sustainable Anambra, initiated by Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, goes into higher gear as the Anambra State Ministry of Environment celebrates World Earth Day tomorrow, Saturday, April 22, 2023. It will be marked with a Town Hall Meeting organized by the ministry with the theme: “Clean, Green and Sustainable Anambra: Taking Ownership, A Community Participation Approach”. The Town Hall Meeting which is billed to start at 10am prompt at Prof Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka will comprehensively place the community at the very heart of the sustenance of the clean and green revolution in Anambra State.

 

 

 

It needs to be recalled that on Friday, March 31, 2023, Governor Soludo flagged-off of the Clean, Green and Sustainable programme. In championing the cause for sustainable clean and green Anambra State, he is following the script of his well-articulated Peoples Manifesto aimed at turning the homeland into a liveable, pleasurable and prosperous destination of choice.

 

 

 

In his avowed manner of leading by example, Governor Soludo personally set the tone by physically engaging in desilting of drainages and evacuation of wastes.

 

 

 

After the flag-off, the programme was launched in the 21 local governments areas and 181 communities on Saturday, April 1 facilitated by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim.

 

In addition to these actions and others initiated in the few weeks that followed the flag-off, tomorrow’s Town Hall Meeting is coming as the next logical step that would help to ensure the sustainability of the Clean and Green culture in Anambra State.

 

 

 

Governor Soludo who is the Distinguished Guest of Honour at the World Earth Day celebration will deliver new vistas on the Clean, Green and Sustainable vision and

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mission of Anambra State. The panelists who are expected to discuss the theme of the Town Hall Meeting include the Managing Director/CEO, Lagos State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, Mr Ibrahim Odumboni, the Dean faculty of Environmental Sciences, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Professor Leo Muoghalu, and Professor Peter Nnabude, an expert on Soil Science and Water Conservation from Nnamdi Azikiwe University.

 

 

 

Major stakeholders in the state such as traditional rulers, market leaders, church leaders, heads of educational institutions, motor park unions, landlord associations and many others must continually be involved in the Clean and Green task. This is to ensure that every onye Anambra takes ownership of the project so as to make the vision realizable and sustainable.

 

 

 

A clean and green Anambra must become a way of life, a culture, and a tradition that marks Anambra State out as indeed the Light of the Nation. That’s the only way Ndi-Anambra can help create a liveable, pleasurable and prosperous state as passionately espoused by Mr. Governor. A clean, green and sustainable Anambra is an idea whose time has come in keeping with the ideals of Ndi-Anambra.

 

In shaping up the environment for good, there should be a total stop to the indiscriminate felling of trees by the people. The consequences of the felling of trees are dire, especially as it leads to rampant erosion all over the state. Even where its absolutely necessary to cut down a tree, the person must plant three trees for every one tree felled.

 

 

 

It is worth restating that Anambra and Lagos are the two states with the least land mass, but while Lagos are gaining more land through ocean reclamation, Anambra keeps losing its land through the scourge of erosion. All these are issues to be tackled on the World Earth Day Town Hall Meeting holding at Professor Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka, tomorrow, Saturday, April 22, 2023.

 

 

Written by   PAUL NWOSU