Environment: Lagos Assembly bolsters Sanwoolu’s executive order

• set up 4-man adhoc committee

The Lagos State House of Assembly raised concern about the level of compliance with the executive order issued by Governor Babajide Sanwoolu on environmental issues bothering the state, and also set up an adhoc committee unravel the likely bottle necks.

The committee as announced by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa during plenary on Tuesday includes; Hon. Moshood Oshun from Lagos Mainland 2 Constituency 2 as Chairman.

Other members of the committee are Hon. Olayiwola Sobur from Mushin Constituency 2, Hon. Folajimi Mohammed From Ikeja Constituency 1 and Hon. Tijani Suraju from Ojo Constituency 2.

Obasa, who observed that issues of abandoned projects and disposal of refuse characterized the environment in the state, directed the committee to visit some of the drainages, LAWMA office and report back to the House in one week.

This decision followed a Matter of Urgent Public Importance raised by Hon.Noheem Adams from Eti Osa Constituency 1.

Adams recalled that there was an Executive Order by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on May 29, 2019, where he declared state of emergency on the Environment in Lagos State.

“Is there any improvement in waste management since the Executive Order was issued.It has improved in some parts of the state such as my area, Eti Osa Constituency 1, but it is not so in some other parts of the state.

“There is a way we need to manage our waste in the state. We generate 13,000 metric tonnes of waste daily in the state, but how do we turn them to wealth?Lagos State is being flooded daily during rainy season due to the way we manage our environment,” he said.

The lawmaker then urged the State Ministry of the Environment to evacuate the water channels in the state, adding that most of the drainages in the state were not being cleared periodically.

In his view, Hon. Rotimi Olowo, from Shomolu Constituency 1, stated that all the drainages around Maryland in Ikeja had been blocked,suggesting that the state needed to do more on dredging.

He however, called on the local government to complement what the state government is doing on the environment.

Also speaking on the matter, Hon. Bisi Yusuff from Alimosho Constituency 1 stated that refuse were being used to generate power in other climes.

Yusuff said that the government could not do the work alone, adding that the attitude of the people would determine their altitude.

“When we don’t throw waste indiscriminately, then we will make progress.

“We should be vigilant about our environment. The work of clearing the drainage from Agege to Aboru was awarded and the contractor was mobilised with about N1 Billion and yet it has not been cleared,” he said.

Hon. Rasheed Makinde from Ifako Ijaiye Constituency 2 said that waste generation was synonymous to urbanization, and that waste is generated based on human activities.

According to him, when Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the Governor of the state, the environment was well managed.

“But in the last government, the companies that were clearing the waste were sent away only for the government to bring an organization that was not known to us.

“We should bring back our PSPs, and we should work on our wetland.The office of the drainage management in the Ministry of the Environment should be made functional. It is when the drains are blocked that we have a lot of flood on our roads,” he said.

These were corroborated by Hon. Tunde Braimoh from Kosofe Constituency 2, who said that the perception of Lagos State to the outside world was appealing.

He stressed that nothing had been done on drainages in the last two years.

“A lot of drainages had been blocked in my area in Kosofe.Roads, refuse and drainages are interwoven and when one is bad it will affect another.

“The issue of potable water is also there, we don’t have potable water in the state. The primary work of the local government is to clear refuse and do things like these rather than the white elephant projects some of them are embarking upon.”

In his comment, the Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade from Ikorodu Constituency 1 suggested that the lawmakers should collate the drainages that require attention in their constituencies and that the Assembly should send the list to the necessary agencies.
Agunbiade added that the House could then evaluate what would have been done in the next two or three months.