The President of the Prime Environment Cleaners Network Association (PECNA), Barr. Yakubu Mohammed Yazeed, has called on the Federal Government and relevant regulatory agencies to strengthen environmental hygiene and professional cleaning standards as part of Nigeria’s preparedness for infectious disease outbreaks.
Yazeed, who raised the concern following reports of an imported Ebola case in Abuja, questioned the implementation of the country’s disease prevention measures, urging authorities to prioritise routine sanitation rather than concentrate on emergency responses after outbreaks occur.
“How many disease outbreaks must Nigeria experience before we take cleaning and environmental hygiene seriously? Government continues to announce preparedness measures, but where is the evidence of implementation, sustained surveillance and protection of frontline workers?”
In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, the PECNA president said Nigerians deserved transparency on border screening, early disease detection and the utilisation of emergency preparedness funds.
He, however, stressed the need for investigations to establish the circumstances surrounding the reported case.
Yazeed expressed concern over what he described as the neglect of professional cleaners in national public health preparedness, arguing that their work was essential to maintaining hygienic environments in hospitals, schools, airports, offices and homes.
“We cannot claim to prioritise public health while overlooking the professionals responsible for maintaining hygienic environments in our hospitals, schools, airports, offices and homes.
“Cleanliness must become a culture, not an emergency response. Prevention begins with the standards we maintain every day,” he said.
He said PECNA had recently partnered with the Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (EHCON) to train more than 200 cleaning professionals on appropriate cleaning and disinfection practices in homes and other facilities to help prevent infectious diseases of public health importance.
According to him, the association has also continued to mobilise cleaners, regulators and other industry stakeholders through professional training, industry forums and community sanitation initiatives to improve standards in the cleaning sector.
The PECNA president called on EHCON, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), the Federal Ministries of Health and Environment, as well as relevant state authorities, to establish measurable programmes covering professional training, cleaning standards, occupational safety and infection prevention.
He questioned the availability and enforcement of standards for cleaning contractors, structured training for personnel working in high-risk facilities and safeguards for workers responsible for maintaining hygienic environments.
“Where are the enforceable standards for cleaning contractors? Where are the structured training programmes for cleaners in high-risk facilities? Who ensures that the people protecting our environments are themselves protected?,he queried.
Yazeed also urged cleaning companies to review their standard operating procedures, retrain workers, educate clients and adopt appropriate risk-based cleaning and disinfection practices.
He cautioned that suspected Ebola contamination should be handled by authorised personnel with specialised training, rather than ordinary cleaning staff.
PECNA called for greater transparency in Nigeria’s Ebola preparedness efforts, accountability for preventive measures and emergency funding, stronger enforcement of environmental health standards and the formal inclusion of professional cleaning associations in national infection prevention programmes.
Yazeed said the association had taken steps to improve the capacity of cleaning professionals through training and engagement with regulators, urging the government to complement such efforts with concrete policies and enforcement.
“We have mobilised cleaners, organised trainings and engaged regulators because we understand that cleaning is fundamental to public health. Government must now match these efforts with decisive action.
“Nigeria cannot continue to celebrate emergency responses while neglecting everyday prevention. A nation that fails to take cleaning seriously is compromising an essential part of its public health protection.”
He maintained that integrating professional cleaning into public health planning was necessary to strengthen environmental hygiene and protect workers and members of the public from infectious disease risks.
