Towards a cleaner Lagos
If you are to take a 50-metre walk from your home around the Lagos suburb, there is probably one unpleasant sight you will likely behold, and that is the heap of refuse littering the roads in the state, and as a result of this, it is easy to conclude that ‘Lagos is dirty’. The state of things in this regard does not behoove the developmental trends that are ongoing in the state; plus it is even making a mincemeat of the mantra that the state government prides itself in. of a truth, the present administration under the leadership of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has been putting in great efforts towards ensuring that the state maintains a high standard in the scheme of things but except one intends to sweep the fact under the carpet will one score the (state) government a pass mark in the area of waste management.
The problem indeed lies in the transition to a new waste management scheme having scrapped the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) and the Private Sector Participation (PSP) program, and the case in the court has not helped matters in any way. Consequent upon all these, residents around the state find no other means of disposing their wastes than dumping them by the roadsides or somewhere around the corners of different streets- a situation which creates a breeding ground for disease pathogens that could lead to the outbreak of an epidemic. And aside this, the indiscriminate disposal of refuse which sometimes extends to the road can affect the flow of traffic in some instances. More disturbing is the manner in which these refuses get to block drainage channels especially with the emergence of flood.
Should a temporary fix not have been put in place?
Considering the fact that waste is a daily part of life [that needs to be properly done away with], the state government should have been very thoughtful in ensuring that these unwanted items from different homes are appropriately disposed without creating any ‘smudge’ on our roads and streets. This could have been done by putting modalities in place to temporarily stand in while plans for the institution and operation of the new waste clearing and recycling agency under the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) are perfected. Also, the local government chairmen should be more involved in seeing to it that waste around the constituencies under their jurisdictions are properly evacuated. It is noteworthy that some local government executives have taken it upon themselves to have their areas cleaned up but more efforts are required, and for those who are yet to come with any plan of contributing their quota towards a cleaner Lagos, the time to act is now.
As the state government inaugurated the board of Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) a couple of days back, it is hoped that the disgusting sight of waste on the roads in the state will be a thing of the past in the not-so-distant future. Notwithstanding, the march towards a cleaner Lagos should not be left to the government alone; the citizens of the state have got to play their part by ensuring that wastes are disposed at designated points- probably after the modalities for Cleaner Lagos Initiative have been fully set in place- at all times.