By Chuks Oyema-Aziken
Determined to check the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Federal Government is set to deploy 40,000 environmental health practice volunteers/Desk Officers to all the 19,000 West African Council Examination centers nation wide.
The Acting Registrar of the Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON), Dr. Baba Yakubu Mohammed, disclosed this at the decontamination and disinfection of Federal Technical College, Orozo, Abuja.
Dr. Baba said the exercise is a follow up of pronouncement by the Minister of Environment, Dr. Mohammed Mahmoud Abubakar recently in Kaduna.
The Minister had said that the ministry was deploying the team of licensed Environmental Health Officers to deontaminate and disinfect 104 federal government schools across the nation .
The Surveillance desk officers are expected to enforce the issues of social distancing, use of face mask and the provision of hand sanitizers and wash stations.
The minister also directed the EHORECON to put in place a monitoring committee on use of ATP machines to detect the efficiency of the decontamination chemicals been used in the schools.
The minister has also put in a place a mechanism for private sector participation in the decontamination and disinfection exercise .
In her remarks, the Principal of the school, Mrs Rose Kenneth, commended the Federal Ministry of Environment for the exercise, saying it will make the environment conducive for learning for the students .
She said the school is set to ensure that the rules of staying safe is applied in the classes, dinner hall, hostels among others.
