In a bid to join the fight against the spread of Cholera and other diseases, the Lagos Metropolitan Lions Club has partnered with stakeholders and community leaders of the Ipodo Market, Ikeja, Lagos State to sanitise, clear drainages, and fumigate the market and its environs.
Charter President of the club, Lion Franklin Udah in his remarks, promised that the club will not neglect the community and will always come back to fix issues concerning their environmental needs.
He said: “We are an Ikeja-based club, Lagos Metropolis anywhere, but our service area is majorly Ikeja environs and Agege, so we came here after a member of ours whose business is situated here in Ipodo community, and brought to our notice their needs in their community and of course, we need to identify with them as a club.
“And surely, sustainability is key to us, we cannot invest so much and let it go down the drain, over time we will continue to come here to do what we have done again and again, and not just here, but we have cleared the drainages here to prevent mosquitoes, rodents, and other pests as the raining season is approaching, and for follow-ups, we will surely come, and for other projects that we have in mind, Like pipe borne water, as you can see, it’s like a shanty here, so we will come back again and again to meet their environmental needs.”
The Second Vice President of the Club, Lion Ameachi Nwankwo, said the club is committed to the service of humanity as their slogan says “Service First”.
“Today’s activity was very successful, and we as a club are happy that we did this, as our slogan goes, Service First, we were able to service this area, we were able to touch over 500 lives here today, and like our CP said in terms of environment works, we look to do more within the Ikeja axis.
“Based on the pledges that we made, we look to take it a month or two at intervals for us to be able to meet up and catch up with the service year, we will surely meet all of them”, he said
The cleanup exercise elicited positive reactions from the residents and traders. They praised the Club for its giant strides in maintaining cleanliness in the surroundings.
A food seller said: “I was told yesterday that some people are coming to clear our drainages, and I feel so happy that they are here, which means that Nigeria is getting better, when they promise something and they do it when they promised, I feel so happy.
“As a food seller, having a clean environment is essential and I thank the Metropolitan Lions Club for this that they have done, now my customers can come and eat without having the fear of Cholera or other diseases.
Community leader, Chief Lateef Apena affirmed that the community will uphold the clean environment and urged the Club to see to other needs of the community.
“As a community, we appreciate the club for this that they have done, they came to us and told us about their plans to help us in our community and here they are doing what they promised, however, we also need some other things like public toilet which we have discussed and we hope that they will do it as they have done this one”, he said.