By: Manoah Kikekon
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| Hon. Babatunde Hunpe In the middle, Mrs. Oluwakemi Avoseh by the right |
BADAGRY, LAGOS — In a decisive move to protect public health and restore environmental sanity, the Executive Chairman of Badagry Local Government, Hon. Babatunde Hunpe, has called on the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) and the Ministry of the Environment to urgently deploy more Private Sector Participation (PSP) waste operators to the area.
The Chairman made this appeal on Saturday during an extensive environmental sanitation monitoring exercise carried out across multiple communities within the local government area. Hunpe, who led council officials to inspect major residential and commercial hubs, expressed concern over the persistent challenge of illegal refuse heaps fouling public spaces.
Addressing journalists during the inspection tour, Hon. Hunpe emphasized that while the local government maintains a fleet of smaller utility trucks for internal administrative use, it cannot legally or logistically take over the core municipal responsibilities assigned to authorized waste managers. Instead, he noted that the state must build up the capacity of its accredited handlers.
“We have discussed with the Ministry of Environment; they have to increase the number of their PSP vehicles here because it will not be nice to take up their job from them," Hunpe explained. "Our appeal to the Ministry of Environment or LAWMA is to increase the number of PSPs we have in this Local Government.”
The Chairman strongly warned residents against the hazardous practice of open refuse burning, pointing out that utilizing structured collection networks is the only sustainable path to keeping Badagry clean.
“The best way is not to burn the waste, but to make sure they patronize the PSP vehicles in their area," Hunpe added. "On our own end as a government, we also have our small trucks, but we don't go to the streets to pick up waste. We only stay within our jurisdiction because we don't want to disrupt the work of the PSPs.”
Mrs. Oluwakemi Avoseh the Chairman's position, the Council Manager of Badagry Local Government, pointed out that the current volume of waste infrastructure allocated to the area is severely inadequate. She warned that structural adjustments must happen swiftly to avert a catastrophic public health crisis.
Aboseh stressed that community health cannot wait for bi-weekly or monthly government clean-up cycles:
“We need more PSPs in Badagry and we want them to work effectively, as the ones we have now are not working optimally," Aboseh stated. "We all know that an uncleanliness epidemic is bound to happen if this continues, and that is what we don't want in Badagry. People don't have to wait till sanitation day before cleaning their environment; cleanliness should be a daily thing. You cannot live in a dirty environment and expect to thrive.”
The monitoring exercise received praise from local representatives, including Hon. Esther Sareaje, the Councilor representing Ward D. She admitted that compliance has been a major hurdle at the grassroots level but stated that the high-profile visit from the executive team serves as a vital wake-up call for local households.
“I appreciate this effort of the chairman coming to my ward; this is a challenge to me," the Councilor stated. "Before now, I have told my people to clean their environment but they wouldn't listen. Now, I have told them that they must be ready to face the legal consequences of their actions, because as we all know, cleanliness is next to godliness.”
With local authorities vowing to ramp up enforcement against environmental infractions, attention now shifts to LAWMA and the state ministry to see how quickly they can deploy the necessary logistical reinforcements to the Badagry axis.