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Thursday, September 4, 2014

INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT HONOURABLE (MRS) LAURENTIAL LARABA MALLAM AT THE INAUGURATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICERS REGISTRATION COUNCIL OF NIGERIA OM MONDAY 11TH AUGUST 2014 AT ROCK VIEW ROYALE HOTEL WUSE ZONE II ABUJA


The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment,
The Chairman of the Council,
Members of the Council,
Directors here present,
Gentlemen of the Press,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

I am very happy and grateful to God to be here today to inaugurate the
Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria on behalf of the President
and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr.
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, who is authorized by the enabling Act to establish this
Council.

2. This inauguration is the third in the life of this Council having been established for
the first time in 2004. This inauguration is coming at a time when the improvement in
various components of Environmental Health is of utmost public concern due mainly to the
abysmal situation of such in public concerns in such areas like waste management, global
warming and climate change, poverty alleviation, and general environmental protection.

3. The present administration is determined to improve the environmental quality of
all facets of the country to assuage public concerns. The Environmental Health Officer
(Sanitary Inspector) therefore as the officer on the frontline of this battle for
environmental protection must be re-established by government to meet this need.

4. The Profession of Environmental Health, I am aware has a long and enviable
history, having started during the agricultural and industrial revolution of 1750-1900 in
Great Britain. The practice of the profession which was introduced into Nigeria by the
colonial government due to their determination to ensure a safe environment for the
colonial government proved its usefulness. The impact of your predecessors manifested in
the eradication of some of the major communicable diseases of the 1950’s and 60’s such as
Yaws, Plague and Small Pox and these efforts were well appreciated by the Nigerian
people. Other communicable diseases spread by filthy environment such as cholera,
Malaria, typhoid etc were equally kept at bay. The older generation of Nigerian still
remember with nostalgia the effectiveness of the then Sanitary Inspector called
Dubagari, Nwole-ala, and Wole-wole in the Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba languages respectively
and still clamour for the re-introduction of the cadre in our various communities in order
to restore environmental sanity into such communities. My ministry is ready to work with
the Council to ensure the early return of the Environmental Health Officer with the aim
of attaining the level of effectiveness witnessed during the colonial era and beyond.

5. The importance of the environmental health officer as a preventive health officer
is accepted globally and that is why the World Health Organisation (WHO) consultation on
the role, function and training requirements of Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) in
1978, concluded that “experience of those countries which have officers with special
training in Environmental Health who are recognized as constituting a specific profession
clearly demonstrates their values. Thus it would be to the advantage of all member states
to introduce into their Environmental Health service, staff of this kind”, and I am happy to
acknowledgement that Nigeria has long fulfilled this requirement.

6. When I assumed office in the Ministry, I received so many letters from various
factions of the Environmental Health Officers Association alleging one form of misconduct
or the other by members of the profession. This kind of situation should not be in a
regulated profession which should be seen to be populated with men and women of very
high level of discipline. I believe that because there is now a Council, you should settle the
issues so we can focus on the bigger picture of delivering high quality service to Nigerians.
In exercise of my powers under section 7 of the Act therefore, I request you to look into
these issues as well as all reports of breach of the code of ethics of the profession by
some members across the nation. I want you to carry out full investigation and ensure
that integrity is the watch word of practitioners and any person(s) no matter how highly
placed found to have compromised should be appropriately sanctioned in line with the code
of professional ethics guiding the profession.

7. I wish to express the gratitude of Mr. President and Commander in Chief of the
Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, to 5
all the members of the last Council especially to the former Council Chairman HRH Alhaji
(Dr.) Yunusa Muhammadu Danyaya OON the Emir of Ningi, for finding time out of his busy
schedules to have served meritoriously in the Council for 6 years. I equally thank those
being inaugurated today for accepting to Serve in the Council.

8. Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of Mr. President and Commander - in-Chief of the
Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, it
is my Honour and Pleasure to formally inaugurate the Board of the Environmental Health
Officers Registration Council of Nigeria.

9. Thank you.

Hon. (Mrs.) Laurential Laraba Mallam
Honourable Minister of
11th August 2014

ADDRESS BY THE CHAIRMAN OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICERS REGISTRATION COUNCIL OF NIGERIA (EHORECON), PROF. OLADAPO A. AFOLABI OON, CFR ON THE INAUGURATION CEREMONY OF THE 3RD GOVERNING BOARD OF THE COUNCIL AT ROCKVIEW HOTEL, ABUJA

On behalf of myself and other members of the governing  board of Environmental Health Officers Registration  council of Nigeria, I like to thank the Management and the Honourable Minister of Environment and Mr. President for  finding us worthy to serve on this Board. We express our sincere gratitude which we request the Honourable Minister to convey to Mr. President.

The importance of environmental Health especially in this  era of emerging new diseases cannot be over emphasized  as this cadre of professionals hold the key to the prevention of transmittable and communicable diseases  including the protection of aesthetics of our environment.

Indeed they are responsible for the general health outlook of the nation. It is therefore important that the nation’s health policy and strategy should emphasize preventive health care and this is where the relevance of the environmental health professionals especially the environmental health officers should be written in bold and indelible ink.

This being so, it is clear that environmental health officers are in big deficit. As of today we have only about 13,000 trained and only 8,000 are registered. This is far short of at least 22,000 expected, considering WHO requirement of 1 EHO to 8,000 people. This is what has given room to the employment of unqualified personnel by various governments to do our job, especially States and Local Governments and giving them all sorts of titles such as environmental marshalls, environmental corps etc. Of course garbage in, garbage out. Results of unqualified personnel manning such sensitive professional practices is the cause of the unending epidemic of communicable and transmittable diseases in our communities. This
situation needs to be addressed and corrected.

The council may need to carry out advocacy to state government, to give priority to environmental health
interventions which are known globally to be cheaper and save more money than the present situation of advocating medical based interventions even in areas that obviously
require otherwise.

We also need to pay advocacy visit on the need for tertiary institutions to popularize training in this field by offering degrees and diploma programmes. It is quite unacceptable that in over 100 years that the colonial
administration introduced this profession, only 2 Universities are offering degree programmes for
environmental health officers.

For us to remain relevant and responsible, I once again invite members of this profession to rededicate
themselves and carry on their duties with honour, dignity and integrity. The profession had already made a name for itself and we should keep it up.

We know that our society of today has lost a lot of our value system and some of our members could easily be tempted to engage in unwholesome practices. For this group, hard times await them as the Council will not hesitate to discipline anyone who brings the image of the profession into ridicule.

In conclusion, I wish to state that the task before the Council is enormous and require the dedication of all the members and the full support of government. We pledge our loyalty to the government and commitment to this duty of further improving the profession by continuing from where the last Council stopped.

Thank you.

Dated  11TH AUGUST, 2014

ADDRESS BY THE PIONEER CHAIRMAN OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICERS REGISTRATION COUNCIL OF NIGERIA, ALHAJI (DR) MUHAMMADU YUNUSA DANYAYA OON ON THE INAUGURATION CEREMONY OF NEW BOARD MEMBERS

It is my honour and privilege to address this very true august gathering
as the Chairman of the pioneer Council of this our great profession of
Environmental Health Officers. I have a feeling of fulfillment in being
here today to witness this inauguration of the second governing Board of
our great Council. I have looked forward to this day with utmost passion.
The last two years of our Board dissolution has seemed eternity going
by the necessity and import of the Governing Board to the growth of our
young profession.
When we were inaugurated in the year 2004, there was almost nothing
to build on. I remember informing the then Hon. Minister and Council that
the assignment given to us was to revive a dead profession. There was
no government establishment, no staff, no office accommodation, zero
funding, and a profession and professionals in disarray. We had to start
from the scratch in establishing the register of persons in the practice of
the profession and reaching out in advocacy to government, the general
public as well as the practitioners themselves who knew very little about
the nitty-gritties of professional regulation.
Today, we can point at a rented office accommodation at the center and
six zonal offices nationwide, we can also display and categorize
practitioners of environmental health according to sub-professional lines,
sex and age, geography and standing with the Council or any other
characteristic of interest. We have also improved greatly on the
standards of professional training and practice of the profession in
Nigeria. The Minimum Bench Mark for training of environmental health
officers in Nigeria Universities from the National Universities
Commission, new Curriculum for OND & HND, Practice Guide for
environmental health officers in Nigeria, Disciplinary Committee Rules
issued by the former Chief Justice of the Federation, Hon. Justice Dahiru
Mustafa GCON and the Disciplinary Committee Assessors Rules issued
by the former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello 2
Adoke, SAN. These are some of the lasting achievements recorded by
Council during our tenure.

I Thanks the Almighty Allah for guiding the Council. I wish to publicly
acknowledge that the Council had a committed young man in the
personality of the pioneer Registrar (Mr. Augustine Ebisike). He worked
very hard greatly complementing our efforts in founding the profession.
Let me quickly add that Mr. Ebisike has potentials yet to be tapped and I
make bold to commend him for other higher appointments in the service
of our dear nation.
The urgent challenges I see the new Council will be facing are
challenges of professional misconduct by members that needs to be
dealt with, poor recruitment by government at all levels as it seems there
is an “understanding” to allows Environmental Health Officers go into
extinction in the Federal Ministries and parastatals where their numbers
have dwindled from over 1000 in the 1980s to less than 50 this year.
Their numbers in the various states and LGAs is not in any way better.
I have no doubt, given the calibre of people in the current Board of the
Council that the challenges both listed and yet to be encountered will not
alter the path to Environmental Health regaining its pride of place in the
scheme of things in the professional service delivery in the Country. This
I am sure Mr. President saw in assembling this worthy team under the
Chairmanship of an erudite Scholar, experienced bureaucrat and
esteem statesman – Professor Oladapo Afolabi MFR.
I must at this point commend the President and Commander in Chief of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan GCFR for his leadership. The gift of the current Minister of
Environment – Mrs. Lawrentia Laraba Mallam, and the current Board of
the Council is true to Mr. President as a visionary leader and an
environmentalist to the core. Mr. President, I am happy that you treasure
environmental health as a key to the actualization of your cherished
Tranformation Agenda. What remains is for your co-pilots namely – state
governors and Local Government Chairmen to see this noble profession
through your eyes. In doing this, the National Assembly and their
counterparts in the other tiers will give the profession the needed
legislation it requires for effective service delivery.3
During our tenure, we favourably enjoyed the support of the Federal
Ministry of Environment throughout out tenure in the Council. Even when
there were regime changes at the center and the Ministry, our level of
support and patronage never dropped.
Before I end this address, Hon. Minister, permit me to make this parting
request to Mr. President; “I want to hear during the next Council
inauguration that the Federal Ministry of Environment has a fully staffed
Directorate of Environmental Health which will model for states and local
governments to copy, and a fully staffed environmental sanitation
commission centrally controlled but with activity in all local governments
and wards in Nigeria”.
Thank you, Hon. Minister, Chairman of Council, Ladies and Gentlemen
for listening.
HRH Alh. (Dr.) Yunusa M. Danyaya OON.

Dated  11TH AUGUST, 2014