The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Trash Movers Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Grace Ayoola, has called on the Public Relations practitioners to give priority to clean environment.
Ayoola, a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) who made the call while speaking to the journalists in Abuja on the occasion of World Environment Day, said there was a need for PR practitioners to champion the campaigns for a cleaner environment.
She said achieving a clean environment begins with a communication and awareness campaign in the rural communities on the importance of a clean environment to healthy living.
She decried the lack of awareness on the negative health effect of an untidy environment, and said that inclusive sensitization campaigns have become imperative in educating the masses on the importance of waste management.
According to Ayoola, “We realised that a lot of people neglect that aspect of life(clean environment), people don’t just bother about their environment. All we think about is our body. This was why, we started the campaign – CLEAN UP Abuja.
“I believe that achieving a clean and welcoming environment begins with communication and awareness campaigns to communities on the importance of a clean environment to healthy living.”
She called on PR practitioners at all levels to push for such campaigns as part of their organisations’ Social Responsibility efforts, adding that it was part of her organisation’s social responsibility efforts to propagate a culture of clean environment among residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Speaking on the successful outreach over the years by her organisation, she expressed her inability to carry out the laudable task this year for lack of collaborations, but praying that next year, there will be a change.
She attributed most of the successes of the campaign to her passion for a safe ecosystem and her professional PR experience over the years, which assisted her in strategically engaging relevant stakeholders.
She promised to sustain the campaign through continuous enlightenment and follow-ups and letting people know the importance of a clean environment and sensitising them on how to convert trash to gain.
The PR practitioner called on government and concerned stakeholders to partner and continually support efforts at making the environment livable through sponsorship and funding of Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects.
Ayoola commended the President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations for taking the steps and initiatives to plant trees across the country to mark the 60th anniversary of the institute.
LEADERSHIP reports that Ayoola has engaged in different cleanliness campaigns in many communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in order to give back to the society.