Christ Embassy cleans-up Owerri Members of Believers Love-world Incorporated (a.k.a Christ Embassy) including their clerics at the weekend undertook a clean-up exercise at the Ekeukwu Market in Owerri, Imo State. The church de-silted the major drainages at the market of non-degradable materials like plastic bottles and cellophane bags in order to make for free flow of flood water. The dirt scooped from the gutters was emptied into the trash containers provided by the State Environmental Transformation Commission (ENTRACO) adjacent to the Saint Paul’s Catholic Church on Douglas Road. Speaking during the exercise, wife of the Senior Pastor of the state, Pastor Comfort Amenkhienan stated that the exercise was geared towards tidying up the environment. She informed that the exercise was also in commemoration of the birthday of the President of the ministry, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome. Pastor Amekhienan disclosed that all branches of the church worldwide undertook a community service of choice in honour of the man of God and celebration of his birthday this year. Also speaking, Assistant Pastor Chuks Umealo who foresees the exercise becoming a yearly event expressed surprise that the traders were comfortable doing business on top of a mountain of refuse. ‘It is amazing that the traders are busy selling goods including foodstuffs atop refuse. This is unhealthy, he stated. In his remarks, Pastor Martin Nwachukwu of Orlu Satellite Church blamed the traders for the untidy environment in which they are doing business. According to him, the traders were the ones that dump the dirt in the gutters. ‘I don’t think it is right to blame the government because it is not government officials that throw the refuse into these gutters.’ Pastor Nwachukwu asserted. His response was in reaction to an observation that both the government and the governed are responsible for the poor sanitary condition of the market. A responsible government would have built covered drainages which would have ensured that no refuse gets into the gutters as well as provided refuse bins for the people to dump their refuse. It would have also gone ahead to enforce compliance to proper refuse disposal to ensure that cities were not littered with dirt. Deaconess Meg Obioma, Choir leader at the Main Church and Boniface Azuka, a trader at the market insisted on the evacuation of the street traders to another market to check the poor sanitary condition of the Ekeukwu Market. According to Azuka who hailed the church for the community service, the efforts of the church and those of any other group to tidy up the market would amount to naught if the street traders were allowed to continue. Pastor Umealo sees the evacuation of the street traders as a herculean task which has defied almost all governments. He noted that two previous governments tried to evacuate the street traders but failed to achieve results. But before any evacuation is done, Deaconess Meg advised that a new standard market be built. She does not support hounding the street traders off the streets and not giving them a place to do their business. According to her, some of the people who are doing business on the streets were displaced from the North by the Boko Haram insurgency that is ravaging that part of the country. Deaconess Meg who teaches at the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede urged Imo State government to emulate their counterparts in Cross River and Akwa Ibom states in the development of markets. ‘If you go to markets in the two states, you could drive in and out freely but this is not so in Ekeukwu Market, she regretted. The street traders comprise elder and young women selling groceries, foodstuffs and meat such pomo along the road. They do not only endanger the lives of others owing to the unhygienic manner they display their wares but also their own lives and that of pedestrians as their activities cause traffic snarls along the market section of Douglas Road. At a point during the exercise, Pastor Umealo had to direct some members of the church to clear the traffic to enable barrow-pushers evacuate refuse scooped from the gutters into the ENTRACO containers. Participating members wore t-shirts with the inscription ‘International Day of Service in commemoration of Pastor Chris’ birthday. With their feet shod in boots and armed with shovels and/brooms, they scooped and cleared dirt at the market to the delight of the traders and passers-by.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Nov 2013 12:14:01 +0000