AMMC ups city cleaning ahead ECOWAS summit

As part of the preparations for the hosting of the next meeting of the Heads of State of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in Nigeria, the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) has upped it’s cleaning of the capital city.
This was disclosed by AMMC Coordinator, Umar Shuaibu during a tour of facilities ahead of the meeting this Saturday, in the nation’s capital city.
According to him; “Nigeria is hosting ECOWAS conference so we must make sure that we receive our visitors well. We have beautiful infrastructure in Abuja, so we will not allow any body to destroy it.

“And we have to have our environment very clean and neat, so I expect Abuja residents to receive our visitors very well, and we will ensure that we sanitize the city, along with them.
“We do not want residents to dump refuse indiscriminately on the streets and other public places.
“We don’t want them (heads of ECOWAS states) to come and see our city dirty so that they do not take that impression back to their various countries.
“And this state of cleanliness, we want to maintain across the city, at all times, not only at this time we are having important foreign guests.”
Frowning at the attitude of those who deface the city, Shuaibu said: “whenever you clean the environment, people will always come and desecrate it. They past posters here and there all the campaign, convention and religious posters.
“Anyone we catch, we will make sure that we subject him or her to penalties according to the laws; we will charge them to mobile court and fine them appropriately in order to serve as a deterrent to others.”
He therefore directed all agencies of the FCTA, especially those under the Council to ensure they keep Abuja neat and working efficiently always.
Also, the AMMC boss adds: “The entire FCTA is involved in this, and we are determined to keep Abuja clean, beautiful and attractive to both Nigerians and foreigners for living, working, business, recreation and conferencing.
“Hosting the conference is a sort of a booster for us and a sign of recognition from the international community, which can boost our image, standing and improve our standing in the community of nations.
“Abuja houses ECOWAS, so all of them are coming home, so to say, and this could also help in showcasing our tourism potentials.
On his part, General Supervisor, Lynz Associates, a cleaning company under the AEPB, Joseph Gregory, while speaking to us along Bill Clinton Drive, said that he and his men were almost done with the trimming of the flowers and cleaning the roads so as to improve Abuja’s beauty ahead of the event.
Our correspondent reports that the team inspected cleaning exercise at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Expressway and other major areas within the city.