L-R: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of The Environment, Engr. Hakeem Ogunbambi, Permanent Secretary, Office of Drainage Services, Engr. Ayodeji Adenekan, Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule and State’s Head of Service, Mrs. Folashade Jaji, during the monitoring of the monthly environmental sanitation at Ojo, Lagos State on Saturday,July 25, 2015.
Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Idiat Adebule has charged residents of the state to desist from dumping refuse in canals and drainages around the state, warning that such indecent acts constitute a major cause of flooding when it rains and poses serious challenge to government’s investment and intervention on the environment.
Dr Adebule who was speaking when she led other top government officials of the state to monitor the monthly environmental sanitation exercise at Ojo Local Government, expressed her displeasure at the state of canals within the local government, where residents constitute the habit of dumping refuse in canals situated within the council, which she noted had blocked the free flow of water thereby causing environmental hazards and flooding in these areas.
“Today, we are here at Ojo Local government and it disheartening that our people are still in the habit of dumping refuse in the canals and as we have noted, this is the reason why almost all the canals are blocked, despite all our previous effort and intervention here. Our people must desist from doing this; they are mostly affected by problems caused by such acts and government is also worried that funds that are supposed to be channelled for other developmental projects are used to clear canals and drainages all the time”, Adebule stated.
Continuing, she said “our people usually blame government for flooding during the rain, but it is important we understand that we are the major cause of these things. The government had cleared most of these canals here in the recent past, yet today again, we are faced with the same problem and challenge of blocked drainages and canals and as usual, government is expected to clear them again”.
The Deputy Governor added that to ensure the message gets to the people; public enlightenment and sensitization will be increased to educate the people on the dangers of improper refuse disposal and the need to obey environmental laws for their own safety and well being.
She said all relevant government agencies as well as Community Development Committee (CDC) and Community Development Associations (CDAs) will be empowered to take the message to the people and ensure that everyone protects the environment and ensure that government’s huge investment towards achieving safe and secure environment is achieved.
The monitoring team visited the environmental sanitation at Ojo-Igbede, Mogaji, Ifelodun, Alaba International Market and Ajagbandi area of the local government.