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‘Sanitation law to promote healthy environment’

By Tayo Oredola
10 August 2017   |   3:39 am
Speaking recently in Lagos at a workshop on the initiative, the Lagos state Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, said the best way to sustain the environment is through the ongoing sanitation reforms in the state, which the CLI covers.

Lagos State Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Babatunde Adejare

As part of efforts to curb poor sanitation and its health related issues, the Lagos state government has vowed to uphold a more secured and healthier environment through its Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLLI) with the support of the recently passed Environmental Management Protection Law 2017.

Speaking recently in Lagos at a workshop on the initiative, the Lagos state Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, said the best way to sustain the environment is through the ongoing sanitation reforms in the state, which the CLI covers.

According to him, his government is committed to the success of the initiative because it has identified the importance of a healthier environment, as it is the bedrock of development and economic prosperity.

The initiative he said is supported by the corporation of state house of assembly especially with the passage of the environmental management protection law 2017.

Ambode who was represented by the state Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Babatunde Adejare, noted that the state is determined to not only create a level playing field for investors of waste management, it is also focused on injecting international best practices into the state’s solid waste management to achieve best hygiene and sanitation among Lagosians.

“This initiative has offered the opportunity to seek private investments nationally and internationally in the waste management sector. It also aims to craft a more efficient system as well as enhance the standard of living of the people by creating a cleaner, safer and more secured environment,” he added.

Also present was Miss Memuna Miaba, the Manager for Environmental Services at Vision Scape, one of the contracted companies to work on residential solid waste management of the initiative said work has commenced in some residential areas of the state and observations are that most of the volumes of waste come from the high income areas then the average and low income areas,

In her presentation, Managing Director, Solid Waste Management Solutions, Mrs. Tolagbe Martins, explained further that the passage of the environmental law is evidence that the state is serious with the initiative, “because for over 10 years, there have been recommendations on the law, but not much was done to implement it.”

She advanced that the CLI aims to protect the environment, human health, and social living standards of Lagos residents and furthermore address the gap in the existing legislation as well as refocus the scope of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to enable them enforce, regulate and generate revenue from waste management process.

Martins who is also the consultant for the CLI stated the initiative’s four stage approach as challenges in the existing system, developing new concept of operations, implementing systematic changes and cleaner Lagos success remarked that out of the many goals of the initiative is to develop an engineered sanitary landfill within the state, to eradicate illegal wasting dumping to protect the ground water resources and also create about 4,000 and 6,000 direct and indirect jobs respectively.

Governor Ambode however appealed to the media to help mold public opinion on the initiative.

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