In a bid to encourage cleanliness, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State on Saturday rewarded three communities with N2.3m for their excellent sanitary records.
Tambuwal speaking at the inauguration of the Special Sanitation Day which will be be observed for the next four Saturdays, said that the communities to clinch the first, second and third positions at the end of each exercise would get N1million, N750, 000 and N500, 000, respectively.
The ceremony was attended by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu, Speaker, State House of Assembly, Alhaji Sakihu Maidajii and other dignitaries.
”From today up to the next four weeks, each Saturday would be observed as a special sanitation day and there will be restriction of movement between 7.00 am and 10.00 am.
”Subsequently, each first Saturday of the month would be observed as a sanitation day with similar restriction of movement,’” Tambuwal, added.
The governor explained that the action was aimed at ridding Sokoto city, its environs and the state of filth which had taken over it.
Tambuwal said that the exercise was re-introduced to restore the lost glory of Sokoto as the cleanest city in Nigeria and to keep diseases at bay.
”Cleanliness is next to godliness and we must have a paradigm shift and imbibe the habit of cleanliness and cleanliness is inseparable from faith,” the governor said.
Tambuwal appealed to the residents, youth groups and corporate organisations to complement the efforts of the state government in this direction.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Alhaji Garba Sarkin-Judu commended Tambuwal for providing adequate logistics needed for the exercise.
