Lagos sets deadline for a filthy free city

Lagosians would have to wait three more weeks to have a city that is clean and without the heaps of refuse, if the comment of the Commissioner for Environment, Dr Babatunde Adejare is anything to go by.

Adejare speaking at a media workshop on Cleaner Lagos Initiative, where he represented Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, said that though the state government through the Ministry of Environment, Lagos Waste Management Agency and Visionscape is doing some deep cleaning, the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) of the state aimed at ensuring a clean and hygienic environment will commence in the first week of September.

He said the workshop was put together for journalists because as one of the major stakeholders in governance, it strongly believe that the success of the CLI rests squarely on the way it is presented to the general public by the various media platforms.

Ambode said that the best way to sustain the environment is through the on-going waste management reform, which offers the unique opportunity to seek private investment from national and international renowned players in the waste management sector, infuse more efficiency and enhance the standard of living.

“We have thrown up an intervention programme that the Ministry of the Environment, LAWMA and Visionscape is doing called ‘Operation Deep Clean’. The three of them have combined together and are doing this intervention programme supported by our PSP team. We have started using open trucks to make sure that we don’t have refuse so much on our roads.

The Governor, therefore, said the workshop was necessary to deepen the understanding of members of the media and put the CLI in proper perspective with regards to its modus operandi and the expected benefits to Lagosians.

“As the gatekeepers of public information, we seek your support in moulding public opinion for the necessary buy in into the Cleaner Lagos Initiative because people’s opinion is the engine that keeps the wheel of democracy rolling.”

Delivering a paper on ‘Solid waste management: A cleaner Lagos initiative’, a consultant to the ministry of environment, Tolagbe Martins of SWM Solutions said the new concept will be delivered with wide ranging reforms, with the aim to establish a well-developed and long term plan for solid waste management.

She said that the initiative is backed by law with the passage of the Environmental Management and Protection Law of Lagos State 2017, which would be driven by the Public Utilities Monitoring and Assurance Unit (PUMAU) and Lagos State Environmental sanitation Corps (LAGESC).

According to her, the PUMAU will be responsible for all aspects of billing of waste collection services across Lagos State while the LAGESC will safeguard a cleaner, safer and excellent Lagos environment through the practical use of professional enforcement strategies.