Hotels operations offends health law – FG
Osadebamwen Patrick
Five star hotels across the country will be inspected regularly to ensure their compliance to sanitation standards expected in the hospitality industry, the federal ministry of environment has said.
The decision followed an indicting report Environmental Health Officers from the ministry of environment after visitation to hotels across the country.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Alhaji Sambo Bashar gave this hint recently at the world sanitation day.
The report showed that hotels in the country use outdated facilities that undermines the health law of the country and could compromise the health status of guests.
According to him, “Environmental officers visited five stars hotels and found out that most of the facilities were worn out and the management runs the hotel below the standard required.”
He called on the National Assembly to support the ministry to strengthen the laws on environmental matters especially as it concerns sanitation which is critical for sustainable health condition.
Expanding its drive to rid the nation of poor sanitation habit especially in public places, Sambo said that both seaports and airports will be visited at sporadic interval for inspections as a measure to prevent spread of diseases internationally.
He regretted the continued poor sanitation habit that appeared to be growing among the population which negates sustainable environmental sanitation in Nigeria following sights of several refuse dump across the country and called for a better sanitation habit.
Sambo said the situation has become imperative as it has undermined eco-tourism thus affecting the federal government efforts at diversification of the economy.
According to him, “So far poor environmental sanitation is still a major problem in our urban centres and communities. Heaps of refuse have continued to assault our visual senses in many cities across the country. This poses a serious threat to tourism and thereby undermines the diversification of the economy which government is promoting.”
He maintained that sound environment measures must be taken to make the nation healthy and productive as the country combats the challenges of poverty and hunger, infant and maternal mortality .
The permanent secretary observed that Nigeria lags behind in its target to meet the Millennium Development Goal target for sustainable sanitation. Sambo said that the theme of this year’s commemoration “Cleanliness: Gateway to healthy living” further highlighted the importance of renewed effort for better sanitary condition.
According to him, the federal government through the ministry of environment has evolved a strategic approach of collaboration with stakeholders, civil society group and donor agencies to address the critical environmental challenges facing the nation.
Nigerian Wash Ambassador and former head of service, Engr. Ebele Okeke who was a guest speaker at the event said in spite of the global quest for improved sanitation spanning over a decade between 1981 to 1991 billion of people were still not served with most of whom are from the developing country like Nigeria.
The wash ambassador also stated that in the 1990s, Nigeria made a significant stride on sanitation which increased from 35% in 1990 to 40% in 2005 and further increased by 51% to 55% at the same period.
She said the access and progress rate are comparable to the average records in the Sub-Sahara Africa however Nigerian’s large population means that more people in the country are living without sanitation than in other part of the country.
Okeke called on the government to appropriate adequate funding to the sector and focus attention on promoting clean and healthy environment at various constituencies.
She pointed out that the present electoral enlightenment would soon lead to the political ambush by the electorate in the future when they would insist on sanitation programme from their legislators before electing them.
She lamented that status on the millennium Development Goal MDG was stalling the advancement o Africa in the same direction. “Our millennium Development Goals rating for sanitation, Nigeria is not on target. If Nigeria does not meet the millennium Development Goals, so will Africa not she lamented.
