… Urges Residents to Join Battle Against All Forms of Environmental Nuisances
Towards engendering a cleaner Lagos, the State Government on Thursday rewarded Local Govt areas that distinguished themselves last year in cleanliness, urging all residents to join the battle of tackling all environmental nuisances.
Speaking at the Awards presentation ceremony held at Alausa, the First Lady, Dr. (Mrs.) Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu urged all residents to join the quest to address the problem of poor waste handling, self-inflicted flooding, overgrown vegetation, open defecation and indiscriminate waste dumping.
The First Lady, who was represented by Mrs. Modupe Akewusola, added that the award initiative was put together to encourage community participation in cleanliness and to build synergy between various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of Government, public institutions, sector leaders, youths and private sectors towards best Hygiene Practices.
She emphasised that without a doubt, there is a clear nexus between health and the environment and that poor sanitation conditions are contributory factors to diseases and other health-related problems.
She stated that the objectives of the Sanitation Competition were to recognise and celebrate the cleanest Local Government/Local Council Development Areas as a tool to encourage everyone’s commitment to a clean environment.
Her words, “The focus of the present administration’s T.H.E.M.E.S. Agenda development pillars of Health and Environment drive towards a Greater Lagos Rising, the competition was initiated to identify and recognise the cleanest Local Government Areas, Markets, Primary Health Centres as well as Ministries, Departments and Agencies and to raise awareness of the need to ensure a clean environment across the State”.
“To encourage Local Government actors in their respective communities to take part in environmental management and to promote attitudinal change through awareness creation and education on the importance of sanitation and good environmental best practices”, she said.
She reiterated that environmental sanitation is a collective responsibility and, therefore, it is imperative that environmental issues be given priority in all respective LGAs/LCDAs.
She added that the exercise shouldn’t be a one-off thing or just an event but rather a continuous campaign to ensure all communities’ cleanliness and that the environment remains livable, healthy, and clean.
Mrs. Sanwo-Olu said the platform was also to applaud all the LGAs/LCDAs that have made efforts to improve general sanitation in their respective areas while urging them to continue to strive for improvement, as they were being rewarded for their efforts.
The First Lady reiterated that there is a need for all stakeholders to continue to support the efforts of the government in proper waste disposal, to desist from patronising PSP operators, practice waste sorting from source, reuse and recycle and stop open defecation across the state.
The Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tunji Bello said the annual Sanitation Competition amongst LGA/LCDAs was resuscitated in the year 2021 after the cancellation of the monthly environmental sanitation in the year 2016 through a judicial pronouncement.
He said it was introduced to spur actions from the local communities towards a sustainable environment and to raise people’s consciousness on the need to prioritise sanitation in their various communities.
“On this note, I will not hesitate to express our displeasure at the disposition of many of our Local Government/Local Council Development Administrations to their responsibility as it relates to environmental management vis a vis solid waste management, tertiary drains maintenance and vegetal nuisances, particularly on major roads across the State”, he said.
He called on all actors in this sector including LAWMA, LASPARK, LASEPA, KAI and other members of the sector to rejig every aspect of their activities, synergise and deliver a clean and healthy environment to the citizens of Lagos State.
The high point of the event was the presentation of Plaques and Three Nissan Frontier Pick-up Trucks to each of the three cleanest Local Governments in the Metropolitan -Yaba LCDA, Urban-Epe LG and Sub-Urban- Eredo.
Winners were also recognised for the cleanest Markets, Primary Healthcare Centres and MDAs.