In May 1999, I was in Calabar when Donald Duke and John Okpa were sworn in as Governor and Deputy Governor. Two bright young men with purpose and a mission. Although they later fell out, that administration started an ethical revolution in Cross River State. The administration changed the way people disposed waste and Cross Riverians have imbibed that culture. I stand corrected, but I think Calabar is the neatest state capital in Nigeria. Cleanliness has become a way of life there. What I see in Jos and Plateau State is different. Jos was clean prior to 1999, but something must have happened. I see expensive cars (the assumption is that people who can afford that are at least well behaved and a little bit sophisticated) moving and suddenly a polythene bags fly out like drones and drop in the middle of the road; their destination. You see a beautiful girl drop trash everywhere just like some animals mark their territory with their waste. The other day I was in a traffic hold up on Yakubu Gowon way when I saw 2 nuns in a taxi eating groundnuts and pouring the shells right in the middle of the road. I pointed out to the one closer to me using sign language that what they were doing wasnt right and she gave me the kind of wave which if I interpreted right, meant, get lost. When I was within hearing distance, I said to her, haba nun, you too dey dirty road like that? Her reply was, There are people paid to clean it. i almost asked her if she was paid to make the place dirty. I thought it was said that cleanliness was next to godliness. I have heard that kind of line of thought so many times that I thought the Ministry of Environment was going to start an ethical revolution here. I move about with all sorts of things in my pocket and car until I find a place to dispose them properly as if I were in Calabar. Lets change our attitude, please.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 18:39:14 +0000
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