Lagos State Deputy Governor, Kadri Hamzat, has attributed the rising volume of waste generated in the state partly to the continuous influx of people into Lagos.
Hamzat spoke on Saturday during the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in Festac, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area.
He said the state government would deploy 220 newly acquired compactor trucks to strengthen waste evacuation and complement the operations of Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators.
According to him, the additional trucks would increase the state’s capacity to evacuate refuse, particularly in areas where existing arrangements are struggling to meet growing demand.
“A lot of people are coming to Lagos, and therefore they generate waste. So part of what you can see that we are doing is that we are getting many more trucks to actually go and evacuate,” Hamzat said.
He urged residents to patronise accredited PSP operators rather than cart pushers, saying the latter often operate outside the regulated waste management system and may dispose of refuse indiscriminately.
The deputy governor also called on residents to make environmental cleanliness a daily responsibility rather than limiting it to the monthly sanitation exercise.
“We cannot be a people without a healthy environment. It doesn’t matter what we do, a cleaner environment is what makes a city or a state sustainable,” he said.
Hamzat also addressed environmental management issues in Festac, noting that while the Federal Housing Authority has specific responsibilities in the area, residents and property managers remain subject to Lagos State’s environmental regulations.