Ebola: PECNA Queries FG, Challenges NCDC, EHCON

The President of the Prime Environment Cleaners Network Association, (PECNA), Barr. Yakubu Mohammed Yazeed, has challenged the Federal Government and relevant regulatory agencies to prioritise professional cleaning and environmental hygiene as critical components of Nigeria’s public health protection.

Yazeed, reacting to reports of an imported Ebola case in Abuja, questioned the effectiveness of the country’s disease prevention measures, calling for greater transparency, sustained surveillance and improved protection for frontline workers.

“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,” he queried.

According to Yazeed in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, investigations should establish the circumstances surrounding the reported case, while Nigerians deserves clear information about border screening, early detection systems and the utilisation of emergency preparedness funds.

The PECNA president lamented what he described as the continued neglect of professional cleaners in Nigeria’s national health preparedness framework, stressing that professional cleaners play a critical role in maintaining hygienic environments in hospitals, schools, airports, offices and homes, warning that their contributions should not be overlooked in efforts to prevent infectious diseases.

“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.

Yazeed disclosed that 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 prevent infectious diseases of public health importance.

He added that the association had continued to mobilise cleaners, regulators and industry stakeholders through professional training, industry forums and community sanitation initiatives to strengthen standards and promote greater responsibility within 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, and relevant state authorities to move beyond policy announcements and introduce measurable programmes covering professional training, cleaning standards, occupational safety and infection prevention.

He questioned the absence of sufficiently enforceable standards for cleaning contractors and structured training programmes for cleaners working in high-risk facilities.

“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 asked.

Yazeed also urged cleaning companies to strengthen their standard operating procedures, retrain their employees, educate clients and adopt appropriate, risk-based cleaning and disinfection practices.

However, he cautioned that suspected Ebola contamination should be handled only by authorised and specially trained response personnel.

The association called for greater transparency regarding Nigeria’s Ebola preparedness, 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.

“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 said.

He maintained that professional cleaning and environmental hygiene should be treated as essential public health priorities rather than activities to be considered only during disease outbreaks.

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