By Dennis Danladi, Kashere
Kashere community, geographically located in Akko Local Government Area of Gombe State, is facing a serious challenge of environmental sanitation due to poor waste management and poor dumping of faeces by the residents.
This development, no doubt, pollutes the environment hence putting the residents, mostly Federal University Kashere students and its environs at high risk of diseases such as cholera,dysentery,thyroid and malaria respectively.
Investigation by this reporter, reveals that the carelessness and negligent attitudes of some people in the community were some of the causes of this environmental challenge experienced in the area.
Apart from the challenges faced in terms of environmental sanitation which included waste disposal, littering and the accumulation of garbage in public spaces, the community lacks proper sewage systems, resulting in the discharge of untreated sewage into water system.
The issue of environmental is a global challenge which governments at all levels spend huge sum of money to address. In Gombe State, for example, Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya Introduced “Gombe goes Green” ( 3G) four years ago, where four thousand trees( 40000) were planted in order to address environmental challenges and control erosion menace in the state.
Environmental sanitation, no doubt, is crucial for the health and well-being of communities as it contributes to heathy productivity and helps in the enhancement of manpower needs of the society, hence a, ” healthy society is a wealthy society,” as the saying goes.
The management of the problem involves proper waste disposal, creating awareness on the danger of dirty environment, proper management of sources of waste and ensuring proper hygiene practices is adopted by individuals, organisations and governments to ensure healthy environment and to sanction those who have not adhere to the environmental cleanliness policy and programme of the government as well as proper practice of the hygiene protocol in their areas.
Furthermore, to address the environmental sanitation challenges bedeviling Kashere community, the following measures must be adopted. They are waste management infrastructure whereby the community should invest in waste management infrastructure, such as recycling facilities and arrangement of garbage bins, to encourage responsible waste disposal by all and sundry.
Secondly, public awareness campaigns should be intensified and media should be involved in the campaign to ensure that the messages reaches the grassroots on the need to educate the residents on the need for proper hygiene practices in the state.
Thirdly, to improve sewage systems through installing proper sewage systems , also can help to prevent the discharge of untreated sewage into water system and to reduce the risk of water-borne diseases.
Furthermore, collaboration with governments at all levels and non- government organisations can help to leverage resources together and to fight the menace by implementing effective environmental sanitation programs in Kashere community to address the challenges.
The essence of implementing these holistic approaches are to effectively to ensure that Kashere residents can enjoy an improved quality of life and to also attract investments and tourists to the area to complement the effort of stakeholders in the area especially with the establishment of a progressive Federal University Kashere which has pooled together resources personnel and scholars from far and near hence proper environmental cleanliness should be a sine quo none.
Conclusively , the need to address environmental sanitation in Kashere community is overdue, the fact remains that a healthy society is a progressive, prosperous and productive society hence, Kashere community can become a cleaned, healthier, and more attractive place to live if all these measures are carry out and implement all the necessary methodologies to achieve the goals of environmental free sanitation challenges in the area and Gombe State as well.
Dennis Danladi Lafuruth, is a student of Mass Communication from the Federal University Kashere Gombe.
