Kunle Adelabu
Omo’ba Hammed Aroyewun, Executive Chairman, Igbogbo/Baiyeku Local Council Development Area (LCDA), on Saturday, commended the turnout and responses of residents to the re-introduced environmental sanitation in his council.
While also retreating that the cleaning exercise will be a monthly exercise, the council chairman also stated that he expected a better outcome in subsequent months.
Aroyewun monitored the exercise in Igbogbo township alongside the Leader of the Council Legislative Arm, Princess Basirat Banjoko, Secretary to the Local Government, Alhaji Quddus Oduntan, Chief of Staff to the Chairman, Alhaji Wasiu Olowu, the Supervisor for Environment & Drainage Services, Mr Dauda Oshinlaja, Head of Administration/Council Manager, Mr Afolabi Babatunde and other cabinet members, aides and council staff.
The chairman was accompanied by a bus through which residents were called out through a public address system for the sanitation exercise, and two refuse trucks with which wastes were carted away.
Initially, residents deserted roads in Igbogbo in observation of the re-introduced exercise, only to trooped out later to carry out another round of cleaning of their areas. It was also gathered that some residents, especially in the commercial areas, had, on the eve of the sanitation, cleaned their environment.
Our reporter who covered various areas of the council witnessed many residents coming out to clean their environment.
Speaking with THE IMPACT during the exercise, Aroyewun, who assessed the exercise at Baiyeku Road, Obafemi Awolowo Way, Agawaru/Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Road, Club 24, Itungbodo area, Itun Abosan area and Odofin Road, described the participation of residents as expected outcome of his administration’s mobilisation and sensitization.
”Preparation meets opportunity. We have been preparing the logistics, mobilizing our people, and ensuring the environment is ready.
”You can see that refuse are being packed and being promptly taken away by our dump trucks. This is what environmental sanitation is all about.
”As you all know, this is now a monthly thing. We can always improve on what we are doing today, and I urge us all to keep raising the bar”.
While commending residents of his council for the participation, Aroyewun also urged them to come out in good time in subsequent editions of the exercise.
”I must commend our residents for their wonderful compliance so far. However, I want to charge them once again: please, comply strictly with the time and the rules.
”Come out on time, clean your surroundings thoroughly, and pack the refuse properly in bags so that they can be moved away smoothly and efficiently by the LAWMA trucks”, he urged.
Also speaking, Princess Basirat Banjoko, Igbogbo/Baiyeku LCDA’s Council Leader, also lauded the compliance level.
She urged them to make it a daily habit for a cleaner and responsible environment.
”Well, we can see the high level of compliance among our residents; how they were coming out to pack refuse and clean the environment. The compliance is truly top-notch, and we commend them for that.
”We implore them to put in even more effort so that our environment can remain consistently clean. We also advise them not to treat this as a one-time monthly affair. It should be a continuous habit, and not only during the monthly sanitation exercise.
”If we keep our surroundings clean every day, we will be free from germs and diseases”.
