Embrace daily sanitation, Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu urges state residents

Sanwo-Olu’s wife urges Lagos residents to embrace daily sanitation

The wife of the Lagos State Governor, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, has urged residents of the state to embrace daily sanitation as part of efforts to prevent flooding and disease outbreak.

Sanwo-Olu made the call while addressing residents of Eputu London in the Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area of the state during the monthly sanitation exercise on Saturday.

The governor’s wife noted that poor waste management practices could worsen flooding and trigger disease outbreaks.

She said, “This cleanliness that we are observing should be a daily exercise and not only on sanitation day so that we can curb diseases. Sanitation is important that we should start from our homes. Let’s desist from throwing waste in the drainage. We should dispose of our refuse with the refuse collectors.

“When we do this, the issue of flood and disease outbreak will not occur. If we all dump waste in drainage, it will result in clogging and eventual flooding.”

She also noted that the monthly environmental sanitation exercise introduced by the state government is gaining widespread acceptance, with residents increasingly taking ownership of keeping their communities clean.

“We have created that awareness and we are very proud of our people. We noticed today that both the children and the parents came out very early. In fact, they started three days ago; they didn’t even wait till the last Saturday of the month. That shows the effectiveness. People are aware and conscious of the environment,” she said.

She commended residents of the community for actively participating in the exercise despite the flooding challenges currently being experienced in parts of the state.

“People are making a conscious effort to remove debris as much as possible. It’s a work in progress. We know we still have issues, but they can be resolved,” she added.

Mrs Sanwo-Olu said the state government was also involving schoolchildren in the exercise to instil environmental consciousness from an early age.

“Our children have been here since 6:30 a.m. to ensure that whatever values we are handing over to them, they will continue. By the grace of God, next month, we will also involve students from tertiary institutions,” she said.

She described the sanitation programme as a collective responsibility and urged residents to continue participating every last Saturday of the month between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 am, while also maintaining clean surroundings daily.

Also speaking, the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, said the state government was intensifying efforts to improve waste management through the construction of transfer loading stations and material recovery facilities.

He said the facilities under construction at Olusosun and Simpson would complement the planned material recovery centres in Ikorodu and Badagry to improve waste evacuation across the state.

“The ultimate goal is that once that is completed, there will be material recovery facilities at Ikorodu and Badagry to cart away the waste. We believe we are going to get there,” Wahab said.

The commissioner urged residents to dispose of their waste properly instead of dumping refuse on road medians and other unauthorised locations.

“We just have to keep doing the advocacy and appealing to our people to manage waste properly. People should take ownership rather than just pick up their waste and dump it on the road,” he said.

Wahab also called on Private Sector Participants in waste management to improve service delivery, stressing that residents who pay for waste collection deserve efficient service.

“If people pay for a service, it behoves those providing the service to render it. Rather than dump waste indiscriminately, residents should call LAWMA if their PSP operator is not coming so the agency can intervene,” he said.

Joke Sanwo-Olu

He added that the government would continue to combine advocacy, public sensitisation, and sanctions where necessary to sustain environmental compliance across the state.