The Ogun State Government has ruled out plans to reintroduce the monthly environmental sanitation exercise, saying it will instead strengthen waste management operations by providing more equipment to promote a cleaner, healthier and safer environment.
The state Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, disclosed this during the commissioning of waste management equipment, operational vehicles and an office block in Abeokuta.
The event was held to mark the first six months in office of the Special Adviser and Managing Director of the Ogun State Waste Management Authority, Farouk Akintunde.
Represented by the Commissioner for Environment, Dr Ola Oresanya, Abiodun said the state had moved beyond the practice of shutting down economic and social activities for several hours every month for environmental sanitation.
He said the government had, over the past six years, promoted daily environmental sanitation across the state, making it unnecessary to set aside a specific day each month for the exercise.
“Already our people are used to daily sanitation, so instead of reintroducing monthly Environmental Exercise, we have decided to buy more Compactors and other waste management equipment for the State Waste Management Authority OGWAMA to daily collect and properly dispose of waste generated by households, commercial outlets and industrial facilities in conjunction with accredited PSPs across the state”, the statement quoted Abiodun as saying.
He added that the additional equipment would further improve the authority’s capacity and prevent the challenges associated with the former monthly sanitation regime.
“In fact, the state government will soon take delivery of these Compactors and other waste equipment to further strengthen OGWAMA, thereby affirming the state government’s determination of not going back to the old ways when Environmental Sanitation Exercises are done once in a month, with its problems of ineffective collection and disposal even hours after the end of the exercise”, the statement quoted him to have added.
The governor commended residents of the state, Community Development Associations, CDAs, owners of commercial outlets and captains of industry for their cooperation with the government in its efforts to maintain a clean environment.
Abiodun assured residents that his administration would continue to strengthen the Ministry of Environment and its sister agencies, including the Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency, OGEPA, and OGWAMA, by providing the necessary resources and equipment to improve service delivery across the state.
He also praised Akintunde for his achievements during his first six months as head of OGWAMA, despite operating with limited resources.
The governor expressed optimism that the provision of more compactors and other waste management equipment would enable the OGWAMA managing director to further transform the authority and enhance its operations across the state.