Perm. Sec. gives area councils 7-day ultimatum to clear refuse

This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Muhammad Hazat Sule, the Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary, and made available to the journalists in Abuja.

The statement said Chukwu gave the directive during an emergency meeting in his office on the state of the environment in the six area councils and satellite towns.

It said during the meeting, Chukwu expressed disappointment over the poor state of environment as well as the huge volume of waste in all the councils.

The permanent secretary reminded the council chairmen of their statutory responsibility of 100 per cent maintenance of the environment, stressing that cleanliness is next to godliness.

According to him the statement, Chukwu said the ugly trend of heaps of garbage in all the area councils and satellite towns must immediately be reversed in line with the change mantra of the Federal Government.

He reminded the chairmen that as elected leaders, the people would hold them accountable, especially as councils elections were round the corner.