Cleaner Environment: Lagos State Govt Seeks Full Participation Of Residents

The Lagos State Government has sought full participation of citizens in its efforts to achieve a cleaner environment as the Y2021 Sanitation Competition for the cleanest Local Council Area came to a climax with the presentation of various awards.

Speaking at the event held at the Adeyemi-Bero Auditorium, the Secretariat Alausa, Ikeja, on Friday, the First Lady, Dr. (Mrs.) Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, said the task of environmental cleanliness cannot be left to the government alone, stressing that the failure of service delivery to people and communities and lack of sustainable outcomes are direct results of the non-participation of the people in the exercise.

Dr. Sanwo-Olu, represented by Mrs. Oyindamola Ogunsanwo, recalled that since the inception of the present administration, the State had resolved to rescue the environment from all forms of abuse, as such had declared zero tolerance on environmental nuisance.

She stated that the event was put together to encourage community participation and foster a good relationship between the two tiers of government, State and Local Government Areas, in terms of environmental sanitation and community cleanliness.

The Lagos First Lady expressed concern about the unsanitary conditions of some communities, adding that the exercise was designed to assess the state of environmental sanitation across the communities with respect to waste management, street cleaning, tertiary drainage maintenance and community beautification.

Mrs. Sanwo-Olu averred that cancellation of the monthly environmental sanitation in 2016 birthed the Local Government and Local Council Development Area market sanitation initiative of the Office of the Lagos State First Lady, being coordinated by the Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials (COWLSO) and other important MDAs.

Earlier in his remarks, the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tunji Bello, said that in a rapidly growing urban society like Lagos, sustainable solid waste management practices remain a key challenge, noting that poor waste management causes air and water pollution among others.

Bello averred that the interventions carried out by the State since 2003 in terms of waste management are targeted towards building required capacity and making it business-friendly for all investments.

While informing that Local Government authorities have abdicated their constitutional responsibilities on solid waste management, the Commissioner stressed that all LG/LCDAs must have a change of orientation and be alive to their constitutional responsibilities by working towards acquiring the needed capacity.

He explained that the Ministry obtained Mr. Governor’s approval to resuscitate the annual environmental sanitation competition among LGs and LCDAs to raise peoples’ consciousness on the need to prioritise sanitation and be a vehicle of change for the larger society.

Bello said the criteria employed in the course of the assessments include solid waste management practice across the communities, roads/street cleanliness, open defecation and urination, markets’ sanitation status, sanitation status of motor parks and garages, Primary Health Centres, Local Government Secretariats and general aesthetics of the LGs/LCDAs as a whole.

He stated that the LGs/LCDAs Awards were categorised into Metropolitan, Urban and Suburban for ease of assessment while awards were given to the cleanest Market, Motor Park, Primary Health Centre and MDAs in the old and new Secretariats of the State.

The Permanent Secretary Office of Environmental Services, Mrs. Belinda Odeneye, who also spoke at the ceremony, maintained that the Sanitation Competition Awards must be a continuous event for generations to come.

She said it has been the motivating pillar of environmental sanitation cleanliness in Local Governments/Local Council Development Areas.

Surulere LGA, Epe LGA and Oriade LCDA won the cleanest Local Governments and LCDA in the Metropolitan, Urban and Sub-Urban categories respectively.

Prizes were also given to the cleanest market, cleanest motor park, cleanest local council headquarters and the cleanest primary health care centre.