President of Umuahia District of Nigeria of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, Lemmy Odoemelam, has called on the government at all levels to lay greater emphasis on enlightenment of the masses on the implications of living in a clean environment instead of focusing more attention on refuse clearing.

Speaking with The Tide Saturday during a clean up exercise carried out by Umuahia District members of the church at Apummiri Ubakala headquartes of Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia State, Odoemelam also charged people to imbibe the habit of living in a clean environment and teach the younger ones the virtues of self­reliance.

Suggesting ways of evolving an enduring sanitation culture that would leave the environment sparkling at all times in the country, the Umuahia District President said:

“The government, first and foremost, will have to teach more of cleanliness; the need for people to live in a clean environment and not always embarking on contracts to clean the places for the people.

“For us, as individuals who are members of the society, we should always know that cleanliness is next to godliness and that we should learn to work for ourselves and then teach our children the principles of work. By so doing, one, they would learn to be self­reliant and, two, it will assist them in whatever endeavour they will embark upon in their future.”

He pointed out that a clean environment would have positive health, economic and social implications for the people.

The three-hour clean-up exercise which saw hundreds of members of the church cutting and weeding overgrown grasses and sweeping same; raking and picking up of dirt and clearing of accumulated refuse heaps inside and outside the council headquarters lasted from 8 – 11 am. It is an annual humanitarian service observed by the church throughout Africa.

“We embarked on this’assignment because it is a commandment from God that we should serve one another and the service we mean here is assisting our neighbour in doing that

he could not do for himself and annually the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the whole of Africa carries out this obligation,” Odoemelam volunteered, adding, “last year, we (Umuahia District) had it at Umuahia North LGA and we decided to come to Umuahia South this year.”

He explained that the essence of the humanitarian service, apart from practicalising “pure religion,” was aimed at impressing it upon the people that they should be partners in progress with the government.

“We want to teach people that we are partners in progress with the government. We are government. So we don’t wait for the government to do everything for us and as we do this (clean-up), it will assist in reducing the overhead cost in the running of the local government administration here. That is why we are here today,” he observed.

Assessing the impact of the exercise on residents of Umuahia over the years, Odoemelam said “by my reckoning, the impact so far observed is that the places we have done this projects before have taken a different shape like the Umuahia main town. Now, people have learnt to keep, most particularly the market area, clean always, knowing fully well that they can do that without waiting for the government. It is a matter of living in a clean environment, so they have learnt to do that. Second, it has helped to publicise the church because not everybody is aware of the church here.”

Flagging off the exercise, Chairman of Umuahia South, Pastor Goddy Kanu, represented by the Supervisor for Works, Chief Leonard Omenazu, said the council was overwhelmed by the kind gesture of the church.

“We were all happy, including the chairman. This shows that the churches around us show great concern for this local government area. We are very happy,” Omenazu said, urging other organsations and individuals to emulate the church in promoting environmental cleanliness which would impact positively on the health of the people.