Bantibiti Youth Group (BYG) at Nayilifong, a suburb of Yendi, have embarked on a clean-up exercise in Nayilifong.

They cleaned the choked gutters along some of the major roads within Nayilifong and cleared the rubbish around the toilet facilities.

Mr. Issah Zakaria, the Yendi Municipal Chief Executive, commended the BYG for leading the initiative to achieve a good sanitation in the area.

He said this effort will enable the area reduce its sanitation related diseases like malaria, adding that, prevention is less expensive than cure in sustaining their health.

Mr. Zakaria said without peace, there can never be development and called on the youth to channel their energy towards development and the prevention of poor sanitation in their communities.

He said currently, government has a high expenditure on the health sector and that it was important the communities aided the effort by preventing poor sanitary environments from emerging; such other developmental concerns would be given due attention.

Mr. Zakaria said it was unfortunate that not many people participated in the clean-up exercise.

Mr. Shaibu Abdul-Rahaman, speaking on behalf of the group, said the aim of the clean-up exercise was to reduce the high rate of malaria infection in the area which was mainly due to preventable reasons like choked gutters and insanitary environments.

He said, as the rains are stetting in, there was the need for them to ensure that they had a clean environment and appealed to the Assembly to construct a fence around the public toilets to prevent people from defecating around the toilets.

Mr. Shaibu said their group has no affiliation with any political and chieftaincy groups in the area, but rather a voluntary group to fight poor sanitation and expressed unhappiness about inability of the assembly members to join in the exercise which occurs every Friday.

Mrs. Fati Sibidow called on the residents and non-residents of Yendi Municipality to take good care of the sanitation equipment and desist from destroying the containers so that together, they build a healthy environment for themselves.

Mr. Zakaria, on behalf of the assembly, presented large quantities of soft drinks and bags of pure water to the group.**