The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints have been commended for their Interfaith Coperation having gone to a Muslim dominated Community to do Environmental Sanitation Exercise.
The Church on Saturday,17th August,2024 embarked on a sanitation exercise tagged the All Africa Service Project at the Eket,Owerri Road and Umuwaya road axis.
The Umuahia Stake President , James Ogbuisi who spoke to newsmen shortly after the sanitation exercise,said the filthy nature of the surroundings and open defecation constantly experienced in the area attracted the Church ‘s attention to carry out the cleanliness of the location in order to sensitize the residents and traders alike in the area ,while stressing that the dirtiness of the environment poses a lot of health hazards to them and those patronising their businesses.
Ogbuisi also stated that the Church is in support of the efforts of Abia State governor,Dr.Alex Otti in ensuring cleanliness in Abia .
He said the exercise is to show the people how to keep a healthy environment,adding that it is a believe in the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints to maintain cleanliness ,citing examples of the Church premesis .
He said, “Today, we, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Umuahia, Nigeria Stake of Zion joined our members across all African West Area to participate in a community service which the church tagged All Africa Service Project”.
“We are required to identify a place in the community where we reside that we think we can make an impact as well as make the environment clean and ensure healthy living among the people”.
“What we noticed in this place that attracted our attention was the filthy nature of the surroundings. The traders and the occupants of this environment buy what they eat from this environment”.
“We discovered that open defecation is going on here, which made the environment untidy, so we felt we needed to come and sensitise them and at the same time show them how they can keep their environment clean.”
“In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we believe that cleanliness is next to godliness, this is something we have been doing for more than 10 years now across the African West Area, as we are here today, across every city in Nigeria, members of the church are doing the same thing too”.
“We encourage our members to be clean; our principle is if you are not clean physically, how can you be clean in the presence of God? Our meeting houses are examples of what a clean environment should be.”
He added, “We have been taught this principle and we encourage our members to keep their environment clean at all times so that we can live a healthy life.”
It is centred on service to humanity and we also had the opportunity to exercise.”
Reacting,the Deputy Director General, Abia State Environmental Protection Agency,Umuahia Zone,Catchist Ambrose Jonah commended the efforts of the Church , saying that it was one of its kind as he encouraged other Churches in the State to emulate the steps taken by the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints in sensitizing the public on environmental Sanitation.
Chidiebere Ogbuehi who promised to sustain the Sanitation exercise within the Uwaya Road axis however commended the Interfaith cooperation where Christian came to clean the habitats of the Muslims.
He said, “This exercise is the first of its kind. I also want to encourage other Christian denominations to follow suit and help to keep our environment clean
“Our campaign on the bagging of refuse before disposal has been on air for some weeks now. We are encouraging members of the public to bag refuse in three categories, non-degradable waste, degradable and biomedical waste. From next Monday, we will start the enforcement, we wouldn’t like to see waste exposed because it attracts reptiles, and mosquitoes and it can also be contagious”.
“We want Umuahia to be one of the cleanest cities in Nigeria”.
“We intend to sanitise the city centre by pulling down all the illegal structures in the area. We will demarcate the area and plant trees to beautify the environment.”
The All Africa Service Project of the Church Of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints is said to have taken place in all parts of Nigeria and Africa where some certain locations are identified for the humanitarian Service projects.
Umuahia Stake carried sensitization such as ensuring people bag their refuse for proper disposal,puts in hand gloves and face Mask while packing refuse,clean the gutters and their surroundings constantly and always wash their hands with Soap and running water.
