The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Environmental sanitation

  • Obebe seeks enabling environment for private sector participation in environmental sanitation

    Obebe seeks enabling environment for private sector participation in environmental sanitation

    The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Clean N Classy, Olumide Obebe, has called on government to create an enabling environment for private sector participation in environmental sanitation.

    He said cleanliness should not be seen as sole responsibility of government but a collective societal duty.

    Speaking in Ibadan at a briefing to mark the one-year anniversary of the company’s Ibadan branch, Obebe said Clean N Classy’s commitment to complementing government’s efforts in ensuring a cleaner, safer, and healthier environment across Nigeria.

    He emphasised that his firm has consistently demonstrated professionalism, compliance, and high-quality service in all its operations.

    He said, “We feel it is part of our social responsibility as a company to contribute to the growth and development of the society. We have always believed that the government cannot do it all.

    “Cleanliness is the business of everybody. If we all play our part, the government’s efforts will be more effective, and our environment will be cleaner and healthier.

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    “Our vision is to maintain an eco-friendly environment everywhere we go. One of our achievements so far is 100 percent customer satisfaction. This expansion shows that we are improving and growing within a short period.”

    Obebe also commended regulatory agencies for their collaboration and called for continued synergy between the private and public sectors in the sanitation and environmental management space.

    “We have gone through rigorous registration processes with relevant environmental agencies to ensure compliance. Sometimes, some officials who are unaware of our credentials may try to challenge us, but we always approach such situations positively and prove our competence.”

    He stressed that cleanliness plays a vital role in public health and economic development, urging Nigerians to adopt proper hygiene practices as a preventive measure against diseases.

    “When we have a clean home, we reduce the risk of diseases. If our surroundings are clean, hospitals will be less crowded. That is why we chose to invest our resources in this sector, because cleanliness is next to godliness.”

    Obebe also used the occasion to commend the National Orientation Agency (NOA) and urged it to intensify public enlightenment on hygiene and environmental responsibility.

    “We have a long way to go as a nation in maintaining cleanliness. Countries like Qatar have set high standards in environmental maintenance. In Nigeria, we need massive reorientation; if we get cleanliness right, sickness and pandemic rates could drop by 50 percent in just two years.”

  • Enforcement of environmental sanitation law in Lagos

    Enforcement of environmental sanitation law in Lagos

    • By Lukman Ajayi

    Lagos is one of the world’s megacities with rapid urbanization. By 2030, it is expected that the urban population will double and urban space will increase. As this happens, ecosystems and the essential natural assets they provide will come under threat. Hence, the state has placed the environment at the centre of its development agenda.

    This explains why successive administrations in the state have accorded priority attention to environmental protection and preservation. It is in line with this tradition that Health and the Environment occupy the second place in the THEMES+ Agenda of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration. A good environment, no doubt, enhances improved health and better living conditions.

    However, despite environmental laws, policies and the enforcement agencies put in place to secure the public and environmental health of the state, as well as improve the environmental aesthetic value, the attitude of many certainly poses a hindrance to the state’s objectives.

    Environmental infractions such as street trading, indiscriminate dumping of refuse, pollution and crossing of highways and failure to maintain hygiene and sanitation in markets among other contraventions put a question mark on the state’s smart city quest.

    Whereas environmental protection and preservation will enhance the people’s well-being as well as quality of life, many are yet to key into the worthy cause. Environmental laws are worthless unless they are effectively complied to and enforced where necessary.

    The recent all-out enforcement moves of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) have raised hope in many quarters that the fulfilment of the Sanwo-Olu’s administration’s determination to secure the public and environmental health of the state is on course.

    LAGESC has been at the forefront of implementing the administration’s strategy of maintaining a hygienic, cleaner environment and reducing environmental infractions to the barest minimum.

    The agency is focused on instilling discipline and social order through a combination of public enlightenment, arrest and prosecutions of persons who commit any offense under the Environmental Sanitation Law, 2017.

    Read Also: Lagos environmental sanitation nostalgia

    Environmental law enforcement agencies are put in place to mitigate the threatening environmental problems that emanate from human activities in the quest for economic growth and development.

    LAGESC has been ubiquitous in the government’s concerted efforts to rid Lagos of environmental nuisance and achieve a cleaner environment for the well-being of the residents. Environmental infractions such as street trading, indiscriminate dumping of refuse, pollution and crossing of the highways among others dot the Lagos landscape, thus putting a clog in the wheel of the government’s plan to regenerate the state’s environmental outlook.

    LAGESC’s operational mandates include preventing the erection of illegal structures on walkways, drains, pathways, road verges, medians and pedestrian bridges in the state. The agency also prevents the cooking and selling of food on roads or sidewalks. It also prevents auto mechanics from operating by the roadsides.

    Before now, the state was full of objectionable scenes of mountains of refuse everywhere. At every highway, bus stop and adjoining roads, especially during traffic rush hours, it is not uncommon to find people displaying wares, products and items of different types to potential customers, disregarding the risks, hazards, dangers and illegality associated with such ventures.

    It is disheartening that even traders selling at the appropriate markets are not left out of turning the environment into deplorable filth. This accounts for the closure of some markets in recent times.

    There are many different ideas and points of views on why environmental infractions continue in the state, in-spite of the policy and environmental regeneration programmes of successive administrations in the State.

    There are many people who dump refuse indiscriminately in unauthorized places in a bid to evade the patronage of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA). To many, everywhere is a market. They care about tormenting responsible citizens by obstructing the free-flow of traffic and other negatives associated with their uncivilized attitude.

    No one can deny that there is a problem. It is, however, reassuring that priorities are being given to the problem. At the moment, LAGESC is clearing pathways and bridges and dislodging people selling on the road.

    The sanitation corps ensures the roads are clean and there is no infraction. They are working to make sure that the Public Utility Levy is paid by residents of the state. It is cheering that the people are seeing the need for this environmental clean-up and they appreciate it.

    It is part of the functions of LAGESC to monitor and maintain surveillance along highways, streets and public amenities as well as to regularly report any breach of the provisions of the environmental laws to the appropriate enforcement authorities.

    For this, the present administration, which is passionate about the safety of lives and cleanliness of the environment, has given the agency the mandate to effectively clamp down on all violators of environmental sanitation laws in the state in order to adequately protect the environment from abuse.

    On the aspect of public education and enlightenment, LAGESC is presently making use of the mass media to educate the people on the risk associated with neglecting the use of pedestrian bridges, noting that this act not only endangers the pedestrian’s life but impedes the free flow of traffic. The distance from the pedestrian bridges where arrests can be made by LAGESC officers against erring individuals is within the range of 200 meters. 

    Also, LAGESC is drumming it into the ears of the people that displaying wares for sale in traffic and erection of illegal structures on pedestrian bridges, road setbacks, medians, verges and curbs constitutes street trading, which remains illegal in the state.

    Rightly, LAGESC is compelling residents of public and private buildings to sign a waste collection contract with approved PSP operators for the proper evacuation of refuse. The goal is to prevent channelling of sewage into drains from residential buildings, which is a punishable offense that must be discouraged. 

    It is expedient for the people to understand and cooperate with the government in the quest for a cleaner and habitable Lagos. Also, it is important that the people understand that any obstruction of LAGESC operatives in the course of their lawful duties will be treated as an affront against the state and will be dealt with by appropriate legal actions.     

    A cleaner and habitable Lagos is possible. Play your role and encourage others as well.

    • Ajayi is Head, Public Affairs and Advocacy Unit, Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), Lagos  

  • Sanitation: Taraba govt, bans use of Polythene bags

    Gov. Darius Ishaku of Taraba on Monday banned the use of polythene and plastic bags in the state to boost clean environment.

    Ishaku announced the ban and the introduction of ‘paper bags’ while launching the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) policy in the state.

    The governor also declared a ‘State of Emergency’ on the water, sanitation and hygiene sector, saying he would soon send an executive bill to the state House of Assembly to legalise the ban.

    He lauded the development partners, USAID and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JAICA), for their intervention in boosting water supply in the state.

    He charged the state water supply agency to ensure constant maintenance of water pipes for better service delivery.

    According to him, the state government had keyed into the WASH project as part of efforts to ensure the provision of potable water to the people of the state.

    “Because of the passion my administration had on water supply, we have embarked on a N7 billion Jalingo Primary Water project to complement the African Development Bank (AfDB) water project in Jalingo to cater for the growing population of the city.

    “We are also making efforts to improve water supply across the state and our efforts are yielding results,” he said.

    Earlier, Mr Emmanuel Gowon, the Commissioner for Water Resources, commended the governor for the efforts in improving the water supply in the state.

    Gowon expressed the readiness of the ministry in delivering on the mandate of water supply to the state.

  • Taskforce seizes 109 motorcycles, to destroy over 2,500

    The Lagos State Special Taskforce on Environmental Sanitation on Sunday said it seized 109 motorcycles at Second Rainbow, along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway for flaunting the state Traffic Laws.

    This is just as the agency disclosed it would destroy over 2,500 motorcycles impounded since January for plying restricted routes across the state.

    These were contained in a statement released by the agency’s head of Public affairs Taofiq Adebayo on Sunday morning.

    According to Adebayo, Taskforce Chairman Olayinka Egbeyemi, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP)  at the weekend led operatives to Second Rainbow in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area (LGA) following complaints of residents on illegal activities of the motorcyclists.

    Adebayo said the raid followed series of warnings to motorcycle riders to desist from operating on restricted routes, particularly highways and bridges across the state.

    Quoting the chairman, Adebayo said criminal activities of some the motorcyclists was alarming, noting that some of them harassed passers-by at bus stops.

    “While some of them harass innocent members of the public at various bus-stops, others engage in all sorts of criminal acts by dispossessing their passengers of valuables such as phones, jewelleries, and bags. Also, motorists held in traffic both morning and night around these areas were not spared,”  Adebayo stated.

    Noting that complete clampdown on illegal activities of these operators would be sustained, he said the Taskforce was collaborating with Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) and Area Commanders to sustain the onslaught.

    “The chairman warned dispatched riders using power bikes (200cc above) to desist from engaging in illegal commercial activities as anyone caught violating Lagos State Traffic Laws would be prosecuted.

    “He urged various motorcyle riders associations across the state to on regular basis, educate their members on all 475 restricted routes and the life-threatening danger surrounding plying high-ways and bridges.

    “The chairman, however, confirmed that over 2500 illegal commercial motorcycles impounded by the agency in the last three months (January to March 2019) would be crushed by the government,” said Adebayo.

  • Ooni launches environmental sanitation ahead of tourists to Ife

    Ooni launches environmental sanitation ahead of tourists to Ife

    The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeleye Enitan Ogunwusi, during the weekend launched an environmental sanitation programme tagged “Gba’fe mo” which he said would make the ancient town and its environs the cleanest in the country.

    At the launch in Ife, where he was accompanied by his queen, Olori Wuraola, and his other chiefs, Oba Ogunwusi harped on the need for leaders  to imbibe the spirit of selflessness.According to the monarch,  leaders, who lead by example would find it easy to make the followers to do what is right.

    The monarch, who notes that his efforts to attract tourists to the town are already yielding positive results, said “Gba’fe mo” was designed to get the town ready for expected rise in the number of tourists that will be visiting.

    He disclosed that 200 volunteers, who will clean streets across the town have been selected, adding that five refuse vans to pick refuse are going to be placed in strategic positions.

    The traditional ruler, who further disclosed that large expanse of land in Mokuro area of Ile Ife have been acquired as a dumping site, noted that plans to recycle refuse dumped at the site into useful materials are underway.

    He demanded full cooperation of residents and promised to sustain the initiative, stressing that before launching the programme, he had already experimented it with the palace for 8 months.

    In his remarks, the coordinator of the programme, Tunde Awoniyi, explained that volunteers to clean streets have been trained and provided with needed tools.

     

  • Forget it!

    •Federal Government should not contemplate bringing back nation-wide ‘environmental sanitation’

    Nigerians who thought they were done with the ritual of the country-wide monthly environmental sanitisation exercise may soon find that they are mistaken. At a tripartite National Inter-ministerial Committee meeting on Lassa fever last week, Environment Minister, Amina Mohammed, announced the plan by the Federal Government to bring back the monthly National Environmental Sanitation Day (NESD) originally introduced by the Buhari Administration in 1984.

    According to the minister, “the fact that Nigerians had voluntarily continued the practice for 32 years after it was first introduced was a clear indication that it was in the overall interest of the nation”.

    This time around, the minister is looking at the possibility of a partnership with corporate organisations, states and local governments to repackage the programme just as she informed that a “comprehensive process of consultation, including discussions on the best practices to adopt would be one of the high points of discussions at the National Council on Environment (NSE) due to hold in Lafia, Nasarawa State, in the coming weeks.

    The minister’s effort in this regard is clearly misdirected. It may well be true that ‘environmental sanitation’ has endured in several states across the federation. There is also no doubt that the programme was immensely popular when it was introduced in the mid-eighties. Just as true however is that the practice has become a relic of a past era. Indeed, it would seem to us that the minister is thinking of bringing it back only because the leader who introduced the programme more than three decades ago is back in power. That we consider as sheer hubris.

    Of course, the minister’s claim about voluntary compliance is as tenuous as its so-called relevance is exaggerated. Fact is that the day is observed more in the breach in the present time; while in some of the states where it is still being observed at all, it is treated as one of those meaningless rituals as against being a day devoted to any serious clean up of the environment.

    Today, the practice has not only become anachronistic, it is doubtful that Nigerians would endorse the idea of bringing back the practice which comes with putting the entire country under total lockdown once a month for whatever reasons and with it the attendant loss of unquantifiable man-hours. Secondly, the new plan obviously ignores the several initiatives by market unions, community development associations and other countless non-governmental organisations in the area of keeping the environment clean at all times. Equally noteworthy is that several states have integrated the clean-up activities of these organisations into their programmes. To the extent that environmental cleanliness is for all times and seasons, the country at this time does not need a special day for that exercise.

    We agree that states and the local governments can do more to improve sanitation and general cleanliness across the board. We also agree that there is a lot of room for collaboration among the different tiers of government. However, such collaboration should preclude the monthly ritual which offers nothing but symbolism. Each state should therefore be left to determine whether or not to set aside special dates or times for such exercises.

    With more serious issues of climate change, global warming and ecology thrust to attend to, the Federal Government cannot be seen to suffer the distraction of delving into matters that the states and local governments are best placed to deal with.

  • Lagos objects to environmental sanitation case

    Lagos State has asked the Federal High Court in Ikoyi to dismiss a suit by a rights activist, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, seeking to declare the monthly environmental sanitation  illegal.

    The plaintiff said the restriction of movement during the exercise from 7am to 10am has no legal basis.

    Besides, he said, it grossly violates Nigerians’ right to constitutionally guaranteed freedom of movement.

    The lawyer is seeking a declaration that the restriction of movement on the last Saturday of every month, constitutes a breach of his and other residents’ rights.

    Adegboruwa said no law in Lagos State approves the compulsory detention of citizens at home for three hours for the purpose of observing a mandatory sanitation.

    Inspector-General of Police Suleiman Abba; Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN); Attorney-General Mr Ade Ipaye;  Commissioner for the Environment and the ministry are the respondents.

    Parties to the suit adopted their written addresses yesterday after which Justice Mohammed Idris adjourned verdict till March 16.

    Chief State Counsel in the Lagos Ministry of Justice Jonathan Ogunsanya argued that Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution permits the state to make laws that affect the right to freedom of movement, such as the Environmental Sanitation Law of Lagos State, 2000.

    He said the law vests the commissioner with powers to make regulations towards ensuring a clean environment and public safety.

    Ogunsanya said keeping people at home for three hours every last Saturday was meant to keep society and environment clean and safe.

    According to him, there are classified exceptions to the restriction, including ambulance services and those on essential services.

    But, Adegboruwa argued that Section 39 of the Environmental Sanitation Law could not be the basis for restricting human movement.

    He urged the court to hold that even if there is any regulation in force which restricts movement, it could not be enforced on roads that are designated as federal highways under the Highways Act, such as the Third Mainland Bridge where he was once arrested by the police and officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA).

    He said the federal roads were built and maintained by the Federal Government, and as such, the state government lacks authority over them.

    The lawyer is praying for an order restraining the respondents or their agents from restricting his movement and that of other Lagos residents on the last Saturday of every month

    He is also asking the court to direct the respondents to forthwith allow him and other residents to move freely on that day, in exercise of their fundamental rights.

    In a supporting affidavit, Adegboruwa said he had been restricted on several last Saturdays from going out on the grounds of  environmental sanitation.

    For instance, he said last June 28, he was invited by a television station for a 9am programme on a Saturday.

    “The next morning of June 29, 2013, I set out from my house in Lekki to honour the said invitation.  At the Ketu interchange on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, I was arrested and detained by police officers on the ground that the monthly environmental sanitation was going on.

    “The expressway was blocked by policemen and officers of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), also used their pick up vans to block the road, to prevent access and to hinder free movement.

    “I have a monthly arrangement with one of the companies licenced by Lagos State to clear refuse, and they deploy their trucks to my house regularly, to dispose of all the waste generated by my household.

    “I am aware that the sixth respondent has granted several other private firms the right to manage waste disposal in Lagos State.

    “I verily believe that the restriction of human and vehicular movement constitutes a breach of the fundamental human right of freedom of movement as guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution and the African Charter,” he said.

    Adegboruwa had successfully sued Lagos State over toll collection on the Ikoyi bridge.

     

  • ‘Environmental sanitation, personal hygiene ’ll prevent epidemic outbreak’

    ‘Environmental sanitation, personal hygiene ’ll prevent epidemic outbreak’

    How can epidemic outbreak contained? It can be checked through environmental sanitation and personal hygiene, says consultant public physician, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Dr Sofela Oridota
    According to him, outbreak of epidemics will be a thing of the past if Nigerians clean their environment and live a healthy life.

    He said epidemic of cholera, Lassa fever, SARRS  and other haemorragic fevers are epidemics that can be prevented.

    Nigeria, he said, can contain those epidemics caused by poor personal hygiene and environmental sanitation by being conscious of filthy environment and making changes in lifestyle.

    He said incidences of epidemics were few in the past because people took cleanliness seriously.
    Oridota identified lifestyle as the main cause of diseases.

    “Our ways of life predisposes us to these diseases,” he added.
    He said he will not advise vaccination for the treatment of cholera because if it does not kill people, other preventable diseases such as diarrhea or dysentery would. Personal hygiene if maintained, he said, can prevent deaths from diseases. “People come down with Lassa fever because they expose the food to a certain rat which defecate on it. But if food is covered it will be impossible to have the disease. Hygiene is key to prevent some diseases,” he added.

    Oridota said about 70 per cent of deaths are caused by ignorance and poverty.
    He said surveillance should be increased to track Ebola disease.
    He said there are other epidemics growing in the society from lifestyle diseases.
    Oridota said epidemics depend on people’s hygiene and their lifestyle.
    He identified the agent, host and environment as three key factors that can predispose people to diseases.
    He said the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) had developed a manual for viral haemorrhagic fevers, adding that health workers and family members of the patients sick of Ebola should have no direct contact with their body, fluid and other secretion.
    “People can incubate Ebola from three to 21 days and still look okay,” he said.
    The public health physician said if people don’t touch the dead, dead animals or eat fruits eating halfway by bats which carry Ebola virus they would not contact the disease.
    He said there can be contact tracing to curtail the spread of the disease.