The Lagos State Government and the environmental utility group contracted to implement the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI), Visionscape Sanitation Solutions, have intensified evacuation of waste in black spots and illegal dump sites across the metropolis.
The government disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Habib Aruna.
According to the statement, a tour of the state revealed that evacuation of filth had been carried out and still ongoing in major areas including Falomo Bridge, Obalende, Ikoyi, Mushin, Ikeja, Ipaja, Agege, and Oshodi among others.
The clean-up exercise, which was simultaneously going on across the state, is in line with “Operation Deep Clean,” a stop-gap measure designed to keep the city clean pending the full transition to the new waste management policy of the state government encapsulated in the CLI.
The CLI was established to address, enforce, and regulate the challenges in the solid waste management systems within the state in line with global best practices.
Some residents of the state commended the government’s effort after observing the evacuation of heaps of refuse at the Ikeja Along axis of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
One of the, Mr Babatunde Bamidele, said, “What they have done here is very good; everywhere is clean now. I will only appeal to them to keep up the good work by coming regularly.”
Another resident who operates a public toilet in the area, Tanwa Babarinde, urged the government to designate officials to monitor the axis to prevent indiscriminately dumping of refuse.
She said: “My only appeal to the state government is to designate their officials here, especially at night to prevent indiscriminate dumping of waste because anytime they clean up the illegal dump site here, before the next day, you will see heaps of refuse again meaning that some people are coming here to dump waste at night.”
This statement comes one day after the state government and operators of Private Sector Participation (PSP) in waste management agreed to amicably settle a court case which delayed full implementation of CLI.
The government has also sent a stern warning to residents who dump waste on a large scale on the roads in the middle of the night, saying they would be punished accordingly in line with the law if caught.
Residents are, however, urged to properly bag their waste and put in front of their houses for evacuation by officials of the CLI and other assigned bodies.
