Utibe Ekoson
An International Non-Governmental Organization, Clean Up Nigeria, has announced that Akwa Ibom State has won the Cleanest State Award 2022, saying it has maintained the first position in the past four years.The group also gave the index of the cleanest geopolitical zones as follows: South South took the first position, followed by South East; South West came third, North East, fourth; North Central fifth; while the sixth position went to North West.Its National Co-ordinator, Prince Owoh, who disclosed this, while announcing the ‘State of the Nigerian Environment’ in Abuja, stated that Ebonyi State came second, while the third position was clinched by Bauchi State.Owoh explained that the year 2022 study has the input of 70 per cent from satellite monitoring with the applied performance indicators to score across the board the ratings of states and cities on their Cleanliness Index.He said that the national technical study group was headed by Prof. Solomon Balogun showing the statistical analysis of the different stages of evaluated results on a quarterly basis to the final results on zones, states, and cities.Responding, the Chairman, State Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency, Obong Prince Ikim, and Ebonyi State Commissioner for Environment, Dr.Richard Nnabu, dedicated the awards to their state governors.
