Sanwo-Olu's wife asks Lagosians to keep up with daily cleanliness

The wife of the Lagos State Governor, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, has called on residents to adopt daily cleanliness habits. She believes this is necessary to prevent flooding and outbreaks of diseases.

Sanwo-Olu made this appeal while speaking to residents of Eputu London in the Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area. This was during the monthly sanitation exercise on Saturday.

She pointed out that bad waste management can lead to worse flooding and cause diseases. She said, “This cleanliness that we are observing should be a daily exercise and not only on sanitation day so that we can curb diseases. Sanitation is important that we should start from our homes. Let’s desist from throwing waste in the drainage. We should dispose of our refuse with the refuse collectors.”

Sanwo-Olu added, “When we do this, the issue of flood and disease outbreak will not occur. If we all dump waste in drainage, it will result in clogging and eventual flooding.”

She mentioned that the monthly sanitation exercise started by the state government is becoming popular. More residents are taking responsibility for keeping their areas clean.

“We have created that awareness and we are very proud of our people. We noticed today that both the children and the parents came out very early. In fact, they started three days ago; they didn’t even wait till the last Saturday of the month. That shows the effectiveness. People are aware and conscious of the environment,” she said.

Sanwo-Olu praised the community for their active participation in the exercise, even with the flooding issues in some parts of the state.

“People are making a conscious effort to remove debris as much as possible. It’s a work in progress. We know we still have issues, but they can be resolved,” she added.

Mrs Sanwo-Olu noted that the state government is involving schoolchildren in the sanitation efforts. This is to teach them the importance of caring for the environment from a young age.

“Our children have been here since 6:30 a.m. to ensure that whatever values we are handing over to them, they will continue. By the grace of God, next month, we will also involve students from tertiary institutions,” she said.

She described keeping the environment clean as a shared responsibility. She urged residents to join in every last Saturday of the month from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and to ensure they keep their surroundings clean daily.

The Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, also spoke. He said the state government is working hard to improve waste management. This includes building transfer loading stations and material recovery facilities.

He explained that the facilities being built at Olusosun and Simpson will support planned recovery centres in Ikorodu and Badagry. This is to help with waste collection across the state.

“The ultimate goal is that once that is completed, there will be material recovery facilities at Ikorodu and Badagry to cart away the waste. We believe we are going to get there,” Wahab said.

Wahab urged residents to dispose of their waste the right way. He asked them not to dump refuse on the road and in other wrong places.

“We just have to keep doing the advocacy and appealing to our people to manage waste properly. People should take ownership rather than just pick up their waste and dump it on the road,” he said.

He also asked private waste management companies to improve their services. He said residents who pay for waste collection deserve good service.

“If people pay for a service, it behoves those providing the service to render it. Rather than dump waste indiscriminately, residents should call LAWMA if their PSP operator is not coming so the agency can intervene,” he said.

Wahab added that the government will keep combining advocacy, public awareness, and penalties where needed to ensure everyone follows environmental rules.