By Udeme Hosea

It was a sight to behold on Saturday 24th June 2023, as the people of Ifiayong Usuk, Uruan Local Government Area, joined residents of Akwa Ibom State in observing the monthly environmental sanitation exercise.

The day saw them taking an active part in the task of keeping their environment clean as they engaged in removing debris from gutters that were completely blocked due to non-desilting the gutters,16 years after the construction of the road that leads to Ibom Icon Hotel.

The villagers, both men, women, and youths, with shovels and machetes, were seen digging the ground joyfully to demarcate the gutters from the road and excavating to remove the debris to free the drainage for easy flow of rainwater in the vicinity on rainy days.

Some of the women who interacted with Skynet, during the exercise, listed flood and health challenges associated with lack of drainage, saying these were the major reasons that informed their decision to join the men in the exercise.

One of them, Mary Edem, said “As women from Ifiayong Usuk community, we decided to join our men in this exercise of removing debris from our gutters that was blocked for years. We are happy to be part of it.
“Because of the flood and mosquitos, we decided to join our men in the exercise to open our drains.

“We are also part of this exercise because we want to keep our community clean. The village leadership had announced that everyone in the community should be part of the June environmental sanitation.
“We are law-abiding citizens who believe in listening to superior authorities,” she maintained.

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The women also congratulated Governor Umo Eno on his emergence and subsequent swearing-in as the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State and appealed for financial support to boost their trade or engage them in cleaning of the road leading to the Ibom Icon Hotel and Golf Resort.
“We congratulate the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno, on his victory at the polls. We want him to help and support our little businesses with grants. Some of us are jobless, the Governor who is a man of peace should employ us to sweep this road”.

While monitoring the exercise, the Chairman of Akwa Ibom State Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency (AKSEPWMA), Prince Akpan Ikim, charged residents of the state to continue to keep the state clean through regular environmental sanitation exercises so as to maintain a hygienic environment.
Ikim stated this while addressing residents of ifiayong Usuk, Uruan Local Government Area, during the June environmental sanitation exercise in Akwa Ibom State, held last Saturday.

He applauded residents of the state for participating in the regular environmental sanitation, and commended Ifiayong Usuk people for embarking on the desilting exercise, charging them to practice Community policing to enforce a clean environment and proper waste disposal. Ikim also warned against dumping of waste in the gutters, identifying it as the major cause of blocked drains.

The AKSEPWMA boss monitored the exercise in the company of his Board members and the Executive Chairman of Uruan Local Government Area, Hon. Iniobong Ekpenyong.