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Chuks Udo Okonta
The government of Lagos State has since swung into action to cart away all refuse generated across the State during the Christmas and New Year festive seasons.
A statement by Head, Public Affairs and Research, Ministry of the Environment,
Mukaila Sanusi, said the Commissioner for the Environment, Dr. Samuel Babatunde Adejare stated this during a press interview in his office in Ikeja on Tuesday.
Dr. Adejare explained that so much waste was generated during the Christmas and New Year celebrations, adding that the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) had been mobilized to cart away the backlog of refuse.
He said that Lagosians in their characteristic manners celebrated the yuletide and the New Year in their homes, offices, clubs and all nooks and crannies across the State, thereby generating unprecedented waste for LAWMA to deal with.
“The Lagos State Government took the lead with the Lagos Street Party and the One Lagos Fiesta to galvanize Lagosians for the festive celebrations, while people all over the State marked the season in their modest ways. This is reflected in the way they thronged eateries, shopping malls, hotels and event centres to celebrate during the festive seasons. Some Lagosians even made new purchases for their homes-all these came with certain amount of waste generated everywhere in the State” he said.
Assuring Lagosians of the commitment of the Akinwunmi Ambode Administration to cleaner and sustainable environment, Adejare stressed that LAWMA was on top of the situation as it had since commenced the carting away of the backlog especially in Surulere, Igando, Ikotun, Egbeda, Ogba, Agege, Ikeja and other parts of the state.
He stated that in order to ensure the backlog of waste from the festive celebrations was mopped up on time, LAWMA and its men had been working overnight and would soon restore normalcy.
The Environment Commissioner stated further that the government was aware of challenges before LAWMA and was addressing it with the new sanitation initiative, tagged the Cleaner Lagos Initiative with the projection to inject technology and resources into waste management through Public Private Partnership in 2017.
Consequent upon the new initiative, LAWMA will face solely its regulatory role to bring about efficient control and monitoring of the emergent and old private players in the sector.
Dr. Adejare urged Lagosians to always keep their own side of the bargain by ensuring that waste were properly bagged and disposed of through LAWMA and authorized PSP operators.
