….As Deputy Governor Kadri Hamzat leads wife, Oluremi, HOS, HC Env, SA Env. other officials to monitor sanitation in Festac & Bariga
DEPUTY Governor of Lagos State, Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat on Saturday said the state is bringing in over 200 new compactor trucks to improve waste collection across the state as he led his wife, Oluremi, and State officials to monitor the August monthly environmental sanitation exercise in Amuwo- Odofin Local Government area.
The Deputy Govenor who spoke at Festac Town in an interview after joining in cleaning the environment emphasised that residents must desist from patronising cart pushers and give waste to only registered PSP waste managers.
Said he: “What we need our people to also do is to make sure that they patronize their PSP, not the cart pushers. Because those ones are not organized. You don’t know where it’s ending up, okay? But the PSP will take it to the landfills. The cart pushers, we don’t know. It might even be in the canals.”
“And that’s the encouragement that we’re giving our citizen to make sure that you play your role, to make sure that that garbage doesn’t head up in a canal and therefore leading to flood”, Dr Hamzat stated.
He said the monthly sanitation exercise is about focusing on a culture where everybody takes care of its environment because “we cannot be a people without a healthy environment”
Also speaking during the exercise on measures to address waste on the medians, Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab who was joined by the Special Adviser on the Environment, Engr Kunle Rotimi- Akodu said the situation is getting better as the ministry has set up emergency teams working 24 hours daily as well as steps to fix the landfills and dumpsites .
Wahab said the Ministry will continue to engage the PSP waste operators and also intervening to improve services, adding that as soon as that is done, many residents will start paying their waste bills, thus keeping the PSP in business.
On measures to curb activities of cart pushers, the Commissioner said they are being engaged, adding: “But we don’t want to say because we’re in a situation, we take steps that will come to harm us later in life. Most of these cart pushers, ask yourself, where are those waste usually dumped? Drainage, medians, and so on.
“In addition to that, security findings have also shown that most of them are also are part of those gangs that are involved in cutting metals and doing all sorts. We can’t go that route”, Wahab reiterated.
Meanwhile, the Head of Service, Mr Olabode Agoro who led another team of officials to Bariga LCDA to monitor the exercise, urged residents to take greater responsibility for cleaniness of their surroundings while warning that individuals and establishments who violate environmental laws will face sanctions
Mr Bode Agoro who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Public Service Office, Mrs Sunkanmi Oyegbola said government alone cannot be saddled with the responsibility of achieving a cleaner and healthier Lagos without the active participation and cooperation of residents.
He stated that government officials were participating in the sanitation exercise to lead by example and encourage residents to embrace environmental cleanliness as a collective responsibility, urging residents not to wait till the last Saturday before cleaning their surroundings but make an everyday affair.
“We are here to ensure that the environment is clean and to encourage citizens to come out and clean their surroundings; Government has declared this day for residents to participate in environmental sanitation, and we are here to lead by example and encourage everyone to join us,” he said.
Prominent among those who were part.of the monitoring exercise at the locations were the Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernmental relations, Mr Gbenga Oyerinde, Permanent Secretaries Office of Environmental Services, Gaji Omobolaji Tajudeen, his Office of Drainage Services counterpart, Engr Olakunle Adegbite and selected Permanent Secretaries, Local Government Chairmen, heads of agencies and members of the Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials (COWLSO)
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Tags: 200 new compactor trucks Improve waste evacuation lagos
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