GENERAL MUHAMMAD BUHARI AND MAJOR GENERAL TUNDE IDIAGBON IN 1984

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GENERAL MUHAMMAD BUHARI AND MAJOR GENERAL TUNDE IDIAGBON IN 1984

The issue of environmental sanitation under the government of general Muhammad Buhari and Major General Tunde Idiagbon in 1984

INTRODUCTION

31 years after, many Nigerians still recognize and appreciate the contributions of the Environmental Sanitation law to a clean and healthy society. “I cannot imagine the level of filth and dirt our environment would have attained without the monthly sanitation exercise”, wonders Mrs. Veronica Omokhodion, a lawyer based in Surlier, Lagos. “Cleanliness, they say, is next to godliness,” she asserts, and admits that some people may question the need for such a law before the citizens needed to clean their environments, but she quickly adds that “considering our kind of society, sometimes we needed to be told what we ought to do.” She says even remaining at home till 10am to obey the movement restriction order is difficult for many. 

To Mr. Chidi Okorocha, a trader at Alaba International Market, Ojo, Lagos, “Environmental Sanitation has contributed a lot to our health consciousness. Due to this monthly exercise, cleaning of gutters and clearing of grass has become part of us.” Interestingly, both Mrs. Omokhodion and Mr. Okorocha are not aware that the Environmental Sanitation law was enacted and the exercise begun by President Buhari during his military government. She reveals that she is in her early 40s, while Mr. Okorafor is in his mid 30s. But not Mr. Cyril Obada, a senior banker who is in his mid 40s. “I know the Exercise started during Buhari’s military government”, he affirms. “I was a young teenager then, and can still recall everything.” He states that “at that time, soldiers used to go round town during Sanitation Day, to beat people who refused to clean their surroundings or who broke the 10 o’clock movement restriction order.” He avers that with time, Nigerians got used to cleaning their environment and remaining indoors till 10am, and that the society became better for it as “everyone started cleaning his or her environment.” However, a few also argue that it is wrong to shut the whole country for three hours because of an exercise that everybody ought to be doing daily and not a day set aside for clean-up in a month. National affairs commentator, Jimi Disu has been campaigning for the end of the restriction every last Saturday of the month. “People should develop the culture of cleanliness, and if we do, it will be a daily thing and we would not have to shut businesses and restrict movements for three hours in a day,” Disu argues every time on Classic FM radio.

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