Lagos State government yesterday reaffirmed its determination to tackle the problem of indiscriminate dumping of refuse resulting in mounting waste littering its metropolis, through proactive operations, strategic planning and stronger collaboration with stakeholders.
The wife of the Lagos State governor, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, stated this on Saturday during the monthly environmental sanitation exercise monitored in Mafoluku area of Oshodi-Isolo local government area and Lagos Mainland local government area.
She appealed to residents to be patient over delays in refuse evacuation across the state, assuring that the government is working on a new waste management strategy.
Responding to complaints of residents of the area about delays by Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators and hike in waste collection charges, the governor’s wife said operators were also facing operational challenges at dumpsites.
She said, “The turn-around time for the trucks to dump the dirt at the dumpsite, it takes a long time. They are on the queue for like two, three days before they dump it and then come out, because it’s just one way.”
According to her, the government was working hard to address the challenges, adding that, “I know the government is working very hard to ensure that we have another strategy and approach to our waste disposal and waste management.’’
She therefore urged residents to bear with the government, describing the situation as a teething problem.
“Our prayer to our people is that they should be patient. We know we have this teething problem; we will overcome our teething problem with time.
“They should just be patient,” she pleaded, noting that all stakeholders were working to ensure Lagos remains clean.
“With time all hands are on deck. They’ve gone back to the drawing table, and are trying very hard to ensure that Lagos is clean, because Lagos definitely has to be clean,” she added.
Assessing the exercise in Mafoluku, she commended residents for bagging their refuse instead of dumping it beside drainage channels.
“For the Mafoluku people, they’ve done very well this morning. I can see that they’ve bagged most of their waste, unlike some places where they will collect the dirt and leave it beside the gutters,” she said, adding that a waste truck was already evacuating refuse in the area, though slower than expected.
Mrs Sanwo-Olu therefore, called for improved waste separation, noting that recyclables were still being mixed with general waste.
“The importance of separating the waste is very important. We noticed that we need to advocate more on that, because some of the waste we saw today, we had bottles with dry waste, wet waste,” she said.
She also lauded the participation of schoolchildren, describing it as a strategy of catching them young to instil environmental consciousness.
On overall assessment, the First Lady admitted Lagos was yet to attain desired cleanliness but said awareness was improving.
“Six months that we started, we haven’t got to where we want to be. It’s a work in progress. But I can see that the awareness is there. People are conforming,” she said.
She disclosed that the Ministry of Environment would soon introduce competitions and awards for cleanest communities to sustain the momentum.
Fielding questions from journalists, the Lagos State Head of Service, Mr Olabode Agoro who led the monitoring of environmental sanitation exercise in Lagos Mainland Local Government said, ‘’The essence of today is to continue encouraging people to come out. We started six month ago. This is the sixth one we are doing the sanitation exercise and the turn out of residents is getting better. It could be better.
‘’We are supposed to just monitor. We realised in the last two months that people are not proactive. They wait for us to come before they start cleaning their environment. What we want to see is that by the time we come we should see people already outside cleaning their environment.
