Mr Shehu Lawan, Director, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), said the board has appointed City Cleaning Contractors to ensure effective service delivery and keep the city clean.
Disclosing this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday, Lawan said the intervention of city contractors had significantly improved the sanitary conditions of the environment.
He said that AEPB also set up machinery to reduce manual method of sweeping in the nation’s capital city.
“The contractors are to sweep all the highways with sweeping machines provided for them while the inner roads will be swept manually by the women employed on daily basis within the city.
“We have mandated all our contractors to ensure that the cleaners are effectively kited with caution signs, nose masks, proper uniforms, hand cloves, to protect them from incoming vehicles and dust.
“These are the things which we have put in place with the contractors as an agreement between the board and the contractors.
“AEPB, the contractors and the cleaners meet on a daily basis and we do instruct them to ensure they equip the cleaners with those kits provided for them.
“I am also warning those that are using machines, manual cleaners and those that are cutting the glasses on a daily basis to always equip themselves with the kits for protection and safety,’’ he said.
The director said that the board had instructed the contractors to ensure that the cleaners were not maltreated in any form.
He added that the board would start enforcing all safety measures put in place to ensure that workers are protected in the course of performing their duties.
Lawan also disclosed that the board had appointed supervisors to supervise different districts, where cleaners and the contractors work to improve the environment.
The director, who said each district has a leader, stated that the monitoring would help the board to identify any contractor that violates contractual agreement.
“The city contractors have really improve the environment and given the city a better shape; there is never a time this year Abuja is kept untidy because we have improved on the dump sites.
“The access to dump sites has been improved unlike the previous years when about 70 to 80 compacting trucks, filled with waste will be unattended to.
‘’The truck drivers were always waiting for the road to dry up before the waste will be discharge; this year our dump sites are properly managed.
“The drivers are now off-loading solid waste freely without any inconvenience that is why every district is clean.
“I want to also use this opportunity to urge Nigerians to keep their environment clean and AEPB will continue to be committed in ensuring that our environment is clean for safety of our health,’’ he said.
(NAN)
