The Lagos State Government has reaffirmed its commitment to the monthly environmental sanitation exercise, declaring the initiative a permanent strategy for maintaining a cleaner and healthier environment across the state.
The declaration was made during the second edition of the reintroduced sanitation exercise held simultaneously across Lagos State on Saturday.
Wife of the Governor, Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, participated in the exercise in Alimosho Local Government Area, while the Head of Service, Bode Agoro, led senior government officials on monitoring and inspection activities in Apapa.
Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, praised residents and local authorities for their level of participation, describing Alimosho as one of the cleanest local government areas in the state.
“We observed that some local governments are very clean, and this local government appears to be one of them. We cleaned up some areas and will continue to encourage the chairman, his team and other stakeholders to intensify engagement with residents on environmental cleanliness,” Wahab said.
“You can see that the environment has been cleaned. They also have their own compactors to evacuate waste. The chairman has done well.”
Wahab stressed that environmental sanitation remains a major priority for the government despite recent celebrations and public holidays.
“We made it clear to Lagosians that regardless of holidays and celebrations, our commitment to the environment remains unwavering,” he said.
“We celebrated Sallah three days ago and there were festivities yesterday, but today we are cleaning our environment because every last Saturday of the month is designated as Lagos Environmental Sanitation Day.”
Responding to concerns over alleged non-compliance by some commercial drivers and residents, the commissioner said overall participation across the state was encouraging.
“In fairness to commercial bus operators, we did not find many of them on the roads. We have already communicated with the relevant stakeholders,” he stated.
“As for residents, we will continue to engage and educate them on the need to devote just two hours once a month to cleaning their surroundings.”
He clarified that the state government was not enforcing movement restrictions during the exercise, noting that the administration prefers persuasion, awareness and behavioural change over strict enforcement.
“This exercise was suspended for almost a decade, and with a different demographic and a youthful population, we must adopt effective communication strategies to achieve compliance,” Wahab added.
Also speaking, Agoro highlighted the importance of environmental cleanliness in improving public health and preventing disease outbreaks.
“We are serious about keeping our environment clean. Nobody wants to live in a dirty environment. A clean environment promotes good health and reduces the spread of diseases,” he said.
“It is not about punishment; it is about changing behaviour.
“However, our goal is to create a society where residents understand that keeping the environment clean is a civic responsibility and do not need to be compelled to do the right thing.”
