Lagos Dep. Gov. tasks residents on environmental sanitation

The Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Idiat Adebule on Saturday urged residents to adopt attitudes and practices that could promote good environmental sanitation and cleanliness to pave way for good health.

Adebule made the plea during the monthly environmental sanitation inspection at Apapa-Iganmu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the residents dumped refuse and waste indiscriminately on some streets and in the drainage channel on Ijora-Badiya railway.

Many residents were seen seated in front of their houses, chatting away in dirty surroundings without observing the environmental sanitation.

Adebule decried the dirty state of the environment.

"I am not happy with the dirty state of this environment and many residents here are not observing the sanitation even when their surroundings are dirty.

"The more we treat the environment with impunity by throwing domestic waste at unauthorized places, the higher our chances of getting sick.

"The amount of money that will be used in treating communicable environmental diseases, when contracted, could have been utilised in other sectors of one’s economy.

"Government's resolve to make the state free from infectious diseases will be fruitless when we continue to treat the environment with impunity.

"I am happy you are all aware of the Lassa Fever outbreak and one of the ways to prevent the spread is through personal and environmental hygiene," she said.

"We need attitudinal change and we need to own our environment to stay healthy," she said.

Adebule pledged that the government would continue to organise public educational campaigns and programmes to sensitise people on environmental sanitation and cleanliness.

She said the public would also be sensitised on the benefits of complying with environmental laws.

According to her, it is beneficial to pay maximum attention to the protection of the environment by making it clean, beautiful and safe for life.