When I was a child, holidays in my maternal home at Ndon Ebom, now an airport community in Akwa Ibom State, were more than a retreat for rest or farming. They were lessons in communal responsibility. Cleanliness was not optional. It was a duty. Every household, every street, every compound had to be kept tidy. Weekly community clean-ups, locally known as ‘Utom Idung’, were a mix of individual and collective efforts. Those who failed to participate were fined. If anyone failed to pay, community leaders visited their homes to seize their biggest pot or any other valuable movable items. Beyond the homes, sanitary inspectors, the “eagle eyes” of those days, patrolled with rigid enforcement, ensuring hygiene was a shared culture.
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That sense of environmental duty is now slipping through our fingers. Civilisation has changed so much, eroding values once held sacred. The irony is striking: while we borrowed lifestyles from Britain and America, these countries still guard their traditions of cleanliness and environmental protection. Yet here at home, we have lost the grip on what used to be second nature, guarded with taboos.
Today, Akwa Ibom wears the crown as Nigeria’s cleanest state, a recognition that fills her people with pride. This is not a mistaken recognition. Every guest who travels by road feels a different atmosphere of greenery aesthetics and good roads with almost zero potholes. But keeping that title requires more than celebratory headlines. It demands deliberate and sustained action. Unfortunately, enforcement of weekly sanitation exercises became chaotic in the past, often punishing travellers and commuters unfairly. That prompted the Federal Government to relax movement restrictions and, since then, the discipline of deliberate clean-ups has waned.
It is not enough to enforce monthly sanitation exercises in Uyo alone. Our smaller communities, now growing into densely-populated towns, are choking under the weight of unmanaged waste and neglected clean-ups. If we are serious about maintaining our national reputation, the clean-up attention must spread beyond the state capital.
Recent reviews by tourists, who travelled through Ikot Ekpene, Oron, Eket, Ikot Abasi, ONNA and Abak, paint a worrying picture. Village roads and major highways alike are littered and untended. The Etinan–ONNA dual carriage way, for example, has sidewalks and drains overrun by weeds. It is one of the newest dual carriage ways. What begins as an eyesore soon threatens the durability of the infrastructure itself.
The burden of cleaning these major roads cannot rest solely on government workers stationed in Uyo. Roads such as Uyo–Ikot Ekpene, Uyo–Abak and Etinan–ONNA are already struggling under sand piles, guinea grasses and creeping weeds spilling into the pavements. Without regular maintenance, not only aesthetics but safety and longevity are at stake.
Akwa Ibom has come too far to let neglect undo its gains. We must return to the spirit of community sanitation, as encouraged by the Pastor Umo Eno ARISE Agenda, not as punishment but as pride. Keeping our environment clean is not just about titles. It is about health, dignity and sustainability. If our children are to inherit a truly green state, then both government and citizens must once again see cleanliness as a collective duty, not an afterthought.
Tomorrow Saturday, August 30, 2015 is marked for general sanitation with restriction of movement that requires our full participation in the cities and villages. We must collectively join hands to keep our environment clean and safe, so as to be able to protect our greenery aesthetics with pride.
Credit: Godwin Jarkwa
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