The Lagos State Government yesterday debunked reports making the rounds that the monthly environmental sanitation in the State has been abolished, stressing that the erroneous story which was attributed to the Commissioner for Environment in the state, Dr. Babatunde Adejare was inaccurate.
A statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde noted that Dr. Adejare was misquoted out of context when he indicated that the restriction of movement may be dispensed with, saying he did not in any way suggest that the monthly sanitation had been outlawed.
Stressing that the policy on the monthly exercise has not been reviewed for now, he gave reasons why the exercise was not held in the last two Saturdays, disclosing that it was to allow for the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Exams, UTME, and for the observance of Easter.
According to Ayorinde, “While Dr. Adejare did meet with journalists today and indicated that the restriction of movement every last Saturday of the month would ultimately be dispensed with, he did not say the monthly sanitation exercise would no longer hold in Lagos.
“The last two sanitation exercises could not hold due to the JAMB examination in February and the Easter celebration in March. Nevertheless, the Lagos state government had always encouraged residents to clean their environment and observe hygienic behaviors, without necessarily having to shut the state down.
“It is the wish of Lagos State government to ensure that every part of the state is clean with wastes properly disposed and this will always involve a concerted effort on the part of the government and citizens alike.
“However, while it may become necessary in the near future to observe this clean-up exercise regularly without having to restrict vehicular movement, we wish to clarify that the monthly environmental exercise is still in force in Lagos State for now.”
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