SEO Riders:
– FCT residents demand return of periodic sanitation exercise
– Community clean-up seen as key to public health and environment
– Abuja authorities urged to enforce sanitation days
Residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja are calling for the reintroduction of the monthly sanitation exercise to help maintain cleanliness, improve hygiene, and cut environmental pollution. They expressed surprise that the exercise—which was once a widely observed effort where citizens cleaned their environments collectively—had been suspended, wondering why such a practice that once fostered community responsibility and public health had ceased.
The monthly cleanup drive, first introduced in 1984 under the “War Against Indiscipline” decree, had become a cultural norm across the territory. More recently, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike announced plans to bring back the sanitation day, suggesting that at least two Saturdays every month be set aside from 7 am to 10 am for the clean-ups. But despite that announcement, the exercise has not been fully reinstated, even two years on, prompting calls from residents, health workers, and environmentalists for stronger enforcement and proper coordination.