Mr Alex Akhigbe, the Programme Coordinator, African Clean-up Initiative (ACI) said on Saturday that the organisation’s collaboration with the Aspire Coronation Trust Foundation (ACTF) would improve sanitation in Lagos.
Akhigbe, who led ACI’s network of volunteers to clean-up streets, roads, markets and motor parks in the Mushin area of Lagos on Saturday, said that the exercise was their 24th edition.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos reports that the participants, clad in ACI’s branded T-shirts and caps, also cleared drainages and educated people on waste recycling to ensure a healthy environment.
The programme coordinator, who attributed the success of the exercise to experience from previous exercises, said that logistics support from ACTF gave the clean-up a boost.
“The project is a quarterly one to rid the state of waste and carry out opinion survey on residents on proper waste disposal while educating them on waste recycling.
“Another variant of this campaign is to enlist people on waste-to-wealth resource management to broaden their earnings and per capita income,” Akhigbe said.
According to him, the feedback from the survey forms the baseline report and future plan for the project improvement and presentation to the agencies involved in environmental management for action.
He further said that the large number of volunteers that worked with the organisation was sourced online and from religious bodies inclined to a good environment.
“The provisions from ACTF also aided the increase in the number of the volunteers,” Akhigbe said.
The ACTF Head of Public Affairs, Mr Olumide Emeralds, said that the inglorious position of Lagos being among the fifth dirtiest cities in the world was the reason the foundation supported the campaign.
“The ACTF management is not happy with the narrative of Lagos dirty status and every effort to remedy the menace and foster a better environment is what the foundation is after.
“ACI earned the foundation’s support through its hard work and sincerity of purpose,” Emeralds said.
Mrs Bisi Ayoola, a resident, said that the provision of waste bins in many areas that did not have them would help in better waste management.
She said, “People tend to litre the roads with waste when they do not see waste bins nearby to dispose of their waste.”
Ayoola, therefore, called on the state environment managers to encourage a healthy environment by making waste bins available to people and routinely evacuating them.