Sanwo-Olu’s wife urges patience over trash collection delays

Sanwo-Olu’s wife, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu alongside Lagos State Government officials during the monthly sanitation exercise on Saturday. Photo: Johnson Idowu

The wife of the Lagos State governor, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, has appealed to residents to be patient with the government over delays in waste evacuation, saying efforts are underway to resolve the challenges affecting waste collection across the state.

Sanwo-Olu made the appeal on Saturday while speaking with journalists during the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in the Mafoluku area of Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area of the state.

Some residents of the area had complained about delays in the evacuation of their refuse by Private Sector Participation operators.

Engaging with the First Lady, a resident, Adebayo Agbalara, lamented the delays in waste collection by PSP operators.

“The challenge we are facing is that the PSP operators are not coming regularly to pack our waste. Please help us to appeal to them,” Agbalara said.

Responding to the complaint, the First Lady said one of the issues raised by residents was the increase in charges by PSP operators, while the operators were also experiencing delays in evacuating waste at dumpsites.

She said, “The turnaround time for the trucks to dump the dirt at the dumpsite, it takes a long time. They queue for like two or three days before they dump it, and then come out, because it’s just one way.

“I know the government is working very hard to ensure that we have another strategy and approach to our waste disposal and waste management.”

The First Lady, however, urged residents to remain patient, describing the situation as a “teething problem” that would be resolved with time.

She said, “Our prayer to our people is that they should be patient. We know we have this teething problem; we will overcome our teething problem with time. They should just be patient.”

Sanwo-Olu added that some individuals were taking advantage of the situation but said all relevant stakeholders were working to ensure that Lagos remained clean.

Assessing the sanitation exercise in Mafoluku, the First Lady commended residents for bagging their refuse instead of dumping it beside drainage channels.

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She added that a waste truck was already evacuating refuse in the area, although the process was not as fast as residents expected.

“You can see that the truck is here; it’s already packing. We’re not as fast as the residents want us to pack, but they are already taking the waste away,” she said.

Sanwo-Olu also called for greater separation of waste, noting that recyclable materials and other categories of waste were often mixed.

The First Lady noted that schoolchildren were included in the sanitation exercise to instil environmental consciousness in them from an early age.

On the overall assessment of the monthly sanitation exercise since its return, Sanwo-Olu said Lagos had yet to reach the desired level of cleanliness but noted that public awareness and participation were gradually improving.

Speaking on the progress recorded since the monthly sanitation exercise began, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Environment, Olakunle Rotimi-Akodu, said public participation had increased significantly.

Rotimi-Akodu said residents were now voluntarily coming out to clean their homes and streets, unlike at the beginning of the exercise when officials had to encourage them to participate.

He said, “When we started, the awareness wasn’t this much. But today, you see people turning up, coming out to clean their environment, right from inside their house to the streets. And that is to tell you there’s progress. We’re recording successes.

“What we want to achieve first is awareness. And that is where you now have cultural change. We need to change the whole culture of being lackadaisical toward our environment. People are beginning to pick up now, and for us, it’s a good measure of progress.”

On waste disposal, Rotimi-Akodu urged residents to stop indiscriminate dumping and embrace waste separation from the point of generation.

He said residents could separate plastics, paper and other recyclable materials, adding that some of the materials could generate income.