The Lagos State Government (LAGS) who has set the stage for the grand launch of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative, has begun to seek the buy-in and understanding of the citizens on the new efforts in solid waste management through advocacy and enlightenment.
Speaking at a Stakeholders meeting on Friday at NECA Hall, CBD, Alausa, the State Commissioner for the Environment, Dr. Babatunde Adejare said that the Cleaner Lagos Initiative remained the bedrock upon which cleaner, healthier and livable environment rested.
Adejare disclosed that government had started engaging Lagosians to educate and enlighten them on the new initiative in solid waste management.
His words: “We decided to get closer to our people who are the direct beneficiaries of the new initiative through advocacy and enlightenment programmes so as to let you know what the CLI is and to urge you to embrace it wholeheartedly”.
He maintained that the Lagos State Government was resolute in its commitment to give Lagosians a sustainable and functional environment to be proud of.
“The Akinwunmi Ambode Administration would leave no stone unturned to achieve a clean, healthy and livable State, predicated on the Cleaner Lagos Initiative which is a comprehensive reform of the Solid Waste Management Sector in the State”, he said.
On the benefits of the CLI, Adejare disclosed that the initiative would create 27,500 new jobs by engaging the unemployed youth and the existing street sweepers through the Community Sanitation Workers (CSW) initiative to carry out manual sweeping in all the inner streets in the 377 wards of the State.
The Commissioner urged Lagosians to cooperate with the government by desisting from indiscriminate dumping of refuse in unauthorized places and by being the vanguard of their environment as the ultimate beneficiaries of the new system, which would not only alleviate poverty and enhance the aesthetics of the State but would deepen the economy of Lagos by evolving a new viable sub-sector of the economy.
Ahead of the commencement of the full operation of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative in September, the State Government has lined up series of advocacy programmes to be conducted across the five divisions of the State with different stakeholders including Community Development Associations (CDAs), market men and women, artisans and other groups in the State. (LASG)
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