Sanitation campaign: LAWMA interns sensitise Lagos community

Interns of the Lagos Waste Management Authority, on Wednesday, sensitised residents of Otto Community, Lagos Mainland, to the need to imbibe proper waste management.

The interns, under the aegis of the LAWMA Academy, the 34th set, also known as Team Eco Resilience, took the sensitisation to the community as the state seeks to drive sanitation campaign across the Lagos metropolis.

Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of LAWMA, Dr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin, represented by the Executive Director, Mr. Kunle Adebiyi, told residents to make personal hygiene and proper waste management, a way of life.

He said the task of ensuring a clean environment was not LAWMA’s alone, but a collective responsibility, adding that residents should get covered bins for disposal of their waste, to avoid the spread of diseases.

Gbadegesin also invited interested youths in the Otto community, to register as interns at LAWMA Academy, noting that, “When graduate youths from the community register as interns, they can spread awareness about what they have learned. Various opportunities now exist in waste management. To benefit, we must open our eyes to the possibilities around us.”

In his response, the CDA chairman of Otto community and CDC chairman of Lagos Mainland Local Government, Saloko Babatunde, implored residents in the area, to join the weekly clean-up exercise, to be organised by the community, warning that those who failed to join would be sanctioned.

Representative of the Oloto of Otto Community, Fuhad Oloto, and chief of staff to Oloto, Akeem Esuru-osho, pledged support for LAWMA and compliance with environmental regulations.

In a related development, traders of United Amu Market have taken it upon themselves to clean up their business premises, in response to last Sunday’s sanitation awareness effort at Alamutu Market, Idi-Oro, by officials of the Lagos State Government.

Reacting to this, Gbadegesin, commended the traders for their sense of responsibility towards their environment, urging other markets in the state to take a cue from that, and observe proper sanitation and hygiene around their business facilities.

“Achieving a clean and livable city of our dreams requires everyone to play their own part, we cannot afford to watch the beauty of the state erode due to indiscriminate refuse dumping and nonchalant attitude. The environment is ours to cherish and preserve. Let’s keep Lagos clean,” he said.

You would recall that some officials of the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources and LAWMA, including the Managing Director/CEO of LAWMA, Dr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin, last Sunday, visited Alamutu Market, Idi-Oro, Mushin, for a comprehensive community sanitation/ sensitisation exercise.