The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Kadri Hamzat has said the state government would deploy 220 newly acquired compactor trucks to strengthen waste collection and improve environmental management across the state.
Hamzat said this during the reintroduced monthly environmental sanitation exercise in Festac, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area.
He said the move became necessary as the state grapples with rising volumes of waste generated by its rapidly growing population.
According to him, the new vehicles would expand the state’s capacity to evacuate refuse and address areas where existing waste collection arrangements have struggled to cope with demand.
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The deputy governor also urged residents to patronise accredited Private Sector Participants, PSP operators rather than cart pushers, warning that the cart pushers often operate outside the regulated waste management system.
“The state government will be bringing in another 220 trucks to make sure that we supplement our PSP.. What we need our people to also do is to make sure that they patronise their PSP, not the cart pushers, because they are not organised. You don’t know where the waste is ending up,” Hamzat said.
He linked the growing waste challenge to Lagos’ expanding population, noting that the influx of people into the state inevitably increases the volume of refuse generated daily, while urging them to sustain regular environmental sanitation exercises.
He said “A lot of people are coming to Lagos, and therefore they generate waste. So part of what you can see that we are doing is that we are getting many more trucks to actually go and evacuate. And government investment alone would not solve the waste problem without residents taking responsibility for proper disposal. We cannot be a people without a healthy environment. It doesn’t matter what we do, a cleaner environment is what makes a city or a state sustainable.”
Waste Evacuation
Speaking to newsmen, the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Mr Tokunbo Wahab, said the state was recording improvements in waste evacuation following the deployment of 24-hour emergency response teams and interventions aimed at resolving challenges at landfills and dumpsites.
Wahab said the government had intensified discussions with PSP operators to improve their performance and ensure more efficient collection of household waste across the state.
He explained that the state had also intervened in areas where the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) would ordinarily not operate, as part of efforts to close gaps in waste evacuation.
Also, the Head of Service, Mr Bode Agoro, monitored the exercise in Bariga Local Council Development Area, LCDA, alongside other Permanent Secretaries, including the Permanent Secretary, Office of Environmental Services, Omobolaji Gaji.
Agoro represented by the Permanent Secretary, Public Service Office, Sunkanmi Oyegbola, Agoro expressed concern over the attitude of some residents towards environmental cleanliness and urged Lagosians to take ownership of their immediate environment.
Some of the residents applauded the initiative and the reintroduction of the monthly environmental sanitation exercise, assuring of compliance and maintenance of healthy environment at all times.
