January 29, 2016 – The Lagos State Government has said that it will hold the first monthly environmental sanitation on Saturday, January 30th, 2016.
“There will be the usual restriction of human and vehicular movement across the state… between the hours of 7.00am and 10.00am”, Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Babatunde Adejare said in a statement.
According to him Lagosians should to come out en-mass and participate actively in the first sanitation exercise of the year by cleaning their homes, drains in their frontages and their whole environment.
Adejare explained that so much waste has been generated particularly during the Festivals and New Year Celebrations, adding that the agencies under his ministry have been fully equipped to cart away the backlog.
Adejare further warned that the ministry was now more determined to implement the state government’s policy of keeping its environment clean and safe enough to attract investors and boost the economy of the state.
He warned that violators of the state’s environmental laws must desist or incur the wrath of law enforcement agencies as the state government will step up its zero tolerance policy on street trading and hawking.
He reiterated that street traders and hawkers were responsible for the vandalisation of its infrastructure and defacing of aome of the parks and gardens.
He also reminded Lagosians that global climatic weather conditions have become so unpredictable that Lagosians can no longer afford to dispose their waste improperly but mainly through authorised PSP operators.
The Commissioner for the Environment warned residents who still patronize cart pushers to desist from the illegal act as the scope of the PSP Operators has been enlarged to further accommodate more residents of the State.
He however advised that as much as the state is committed towards ensuring that canals and channels were cleaned at all times, Lagosians should desist from dumping waste into them in order to attain a flood-free Lagos.
In order to attain total compliance of the restriction order and ensure full participation of Lagosians in the sanitation exercise, Adejare warned Interstate bus operators ,the transport owners and road transport workers to comply with the restriction of vehicular movement between 7.00am-10.00am adding that any vehicle caught violating this order will be dealt with appropriately, while passengers in such vehicles will also be prosecuted according to the States’ Sanitation Laws.
He further assured that the Law Enforcement Agencies including Nigerian Police and officials from LAWMA,LASTMA and KAI have been fully mobilized to enforced the movement order and warned that violators will be prosecuted.
