Sanwo-Olu Mulls Return of Monthly Sanitation Exercise

Sanwo-Olu Mulls Return of Monthly Sanitation Exercise

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State is considering reintroducing the monthly sanitation exercise in Lagos to press for a cleaner Lagos but said he would consult the people to decide on the next line of action on the issue.

A statement by Director of Public Affairs, Toro Oladipo said the Governor mulled the idea when he visited the Olusosun dump site in furtherance of his pledge to improve the environmental situation as contained in the first Executive Order on Environmental and Sanitation Matters signed recently.

He said the Governor noted that “This is where we receive 70 per cent of the waste in Lagos. The facility is 28years old so we want to ensure that it can receive waste for the next 23years.

“We are going to ask Lagosians if they want us to return the three-hour monthly sanitation exercise to ensure that we have a cleaner city. Though I have my own view, we will still ask Lagosians.”

He also disclosed the plan to expand the dumpsite to accommodate more waste, saying: “We want to expand the facility to 42 acres so that trucks can have a quicker turn-around time”.

Sanwo-Olu disclosed that the building under construction at the entrance of the site would be used to train and retrain the staff and create more jobs for the people, adding that the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) would be strengthened to collect recyclable materials necessary for the creation of more jobs.

He expressed confidence that the revenue derivable from waste will be properly harnessed to make life more meaningful to the people of the State.

In a related development, the Governor solicited the support of religious leaders in bringing about behavioural changes among their followers in order to bring sanity to our roads as well as the environment.

The Governor, accompanied by his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat and other top government officials were at the Lagos State Secretariat Mosque in Alausa for a special inauguration Jumat Service organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Culture to pray for the success of the new administration.

He stressed the important role that Clerics play in disseminating, propagating and sensitising their followers on government programmes and policies, following the strong belief they have in them, adding that this platform will be well utilised by the current administration.

The Governor promised to regularly use the clerics for the implementation of the newly signed Executive Orders on Waste Management, Traffic matters and Sanitation.

“We challenged our clerics to say that we would be coming back to see them on issues around waste management because we know that the congregation believe them.  We would bring back the waste management team to come and show them the different colours that we will be using for wastes. 

“And once they help us to propagate it, the message would go down. We would also talk about traffic management and why we need to obey traffic rules, to ensure that we are not driving against traffic; obey traffic officers and very simple things like that. 

 We will take the message to people through you so that we can begin to see the change,” Sanwo-Olu said.

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