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IBRAHIM QUADRI
Wife of the Lagos Governor, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu said wives of government officials would be drafted into cleaning markets alongside market women and men.
The Lagos first lady believed that the sanitation of the markets can be better managed through collobative efforts with all stakeholders.
At one-day sensitisation programme involving market women/men, waste managers, government digniaries, among others, in Ikeja on Tuesday, Sanwo-Olu said wives of officials of the state government would, in the next six months, be joining forces with traders and market women across the state, to clean up the markets every Thursday, from 7am to 10am.
She also disclosed that markets with better managed waste and envrionment would be rewarded to serve as encouragement and motivation to others.
It was learnt that in the last few months, a number of markets in the state had been shut and reopened by the state ministry of the environment/water resources, and Lagos Waste Management Authority ((LAWMA) due to spill-over dirts and non compliance with environmental laws of the state.
There are about 2,000 markets in Lagos, out of which 1,500 are said to be operating illegally. The situation is more worrying, as some of the illegal markets continue to extend their activities to major roads, thereby constituting environmental nuisance, and impeding vehicular traffic flow in Nigeria’s most populous (estimated 22 million residents) state.
The state government has, however, refrained from closing down the illegal markets due to what officials say would impact thousands of people negatively.
The consequence of the high number of markets in the commercial city is increased waste generation. It is estimated that over 12 metric tonnes of waste is generated in the state daily, with the markets contributing significantly to this.
Stakeholders fear possible outbreak of an epidemic and other health related hazards if the situations in the markets are not curtailed.
Tunji Bello, commissioner for the environment and water resources, said at the seminar that the government would be more forceful in the enforcement of the state environmental laws.
He called on the market women and men, and everyone who has a role to play to comply.
For a better society
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