Lagos – A group, The Refined Babes Network (TRBN), on Saturday urged the residents of Lagos not to rely solely on government to clean up their environment to reduce mortality rate in the state.
Miss Ugochi Nwachuckwu, the group’s Administrative Leader, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the end of the group’s clean-up exercise in Ajegunle, Lagos.
Nwachuckwu, a student, said that rather, Lagosians should embrace the culture of daily sanitation to improve their environment due to the poor sanitation of the state.
“We are a social group and we all came out to engage in a clean-up of Ajegunle area of Lagos to encourage the society and enhance waste management in our own little way.
“Members of the group are students and as students, we have some courses on the importance of safe guiding the environment and we decided to practice what we have been taught.
“We choose Ajegunle due to the popular notion that it’s the dirtiest part of Lagos and we opted to preach cleanliness to the community,’’ she said.
According to Nwachuckwu, the exercise provided members of the group to meet all its members one-on-one for the first time.
“We have been operating online for two years and we decided to meet and know ourselves during this clean-up,’’ she said.
Mr Akande Abdulrasak, an Environmental Health Officer in Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local Government Area of Lagos, where Ajegunle is located, applauded the group’s gesture and urged other social groups to emulate such.
Abdulrasak said the community, known as “The Jungle City’’, can improve on its sanitary condition, if the residents imbibe the culture of keeping their environment clean.
“With the efforts of the government and the environmental officers, we have been charged with the responsibility to ensure effectiveness.
“The community needs continuous sensitisation and monitoring for them to perform and know the effectiveness and essence of clean environment.
“As officers on ground, we assist them and encourage them to take right actions concerning waste management and cleanliness and we are optimistic there will be a change in this community,’’ he said.
Mr Alex Ahigbe, Coordinator, Team Clean-Up Nigeria Initiative, said the exercise was aimed at working toward the promoting healthy environment.
Ahigbe said the exercise: “Clean-up Ajegunle, involves those who have passion for their environment by cleaning their environment and creating a changed attitude toward the environment.
NAN reports that The Clean-Up Nigeria Initiative is a project of Passion House International, a non-profit social enterprise, with core focus on waste management, community-led sanitation and youth development. (NAN)