The Federal Ministry of Environment has assured environmental health professionals of government’s support towards improving healthcare in the country.
Dr Muhammad Abubakar, Minister of Environment, gave the assurance on Thursday, August 5, 2021 during the First National Summit on Environmental Health held in Abuja.
The summit has as its theme, “Rebranding environmental health practice: breaking barriers, unlocking opportunities’’.
It was organised by the Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON) during which over 3,000 new practitioners were inducted.
Abubakar said the ministry would continue to support the laudable initiatives of the council with a view to providing adequate enabling environment.
He stated that the relevance of the profession in controlling communicable and contagious diseases could not be overemphasised and would be improved upon for a healthy society.
The minister also urged the newly inducted practitioners to contribute their quota in nation building by practicing within the confines of their professional ethics.
Dr Yakubu Baba, Registrar, EHORECON, in his remarks, said the summit brought environmental health experts together to identify the profession’s strength, challenges and prospects.
Baba noted that the practice of the profession currently was disjointed with some components domiciled in the Ministries of Health, Environment and Water Resources.
He emphasised the need for them to be integrated to create significant impact on societal health.
“We will discuss to have a unified structure that will allow mobility of our personnel from one ministry to another, one department to another.
“We want to address the yearnings of Nigerians who are calling for the reintroduction of sanitary inspection as well as consolidate our services,” he said.
Prof. Agwu Amadi of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, said the call for the reintroduction of sanitary health officers was very good and timely.
“It is important for us to achieve desired level of environmental health in the country,’’ Amadi said.
The minister inaugurated the environmental health emergency response volunteer scheme, aimed at bridging the gap of environmental health manpower distribution across the country.
By Patience Longyen
