Environment sanitation in Lagos state

Posted by Felix Okoli on Thursday June 5, 2014 at 16:4:49:

Anybody who has been or stayed in Nigeria for a long time will be familiar with the term environmental sanitation. Once in a month usually on the last Saturday, residents of the state engage in a clean up exercise that involves Cleaning up and clearing out their surroundings. The exercise usually lasts for about 2 hours that is from 7 am to 9am, and during that time, residents are expected to clean their gutters, clear any bush surrounding their houses, burn dirt and other similar activities.

The Lagos State environmental sanitation which is controlled and coordinated by the Lagos State ministry for Environment, holds on the last Saturday of every month, and runs from 7am till 10am and during this time, human and vehicular movements are restricted until the end of the exercise. During the exercise, residents of different parts of the Lagos are expected to stay home and help out in the cleaning of their surroundings. They engage in cleaning out gutters, opening up drainage, clearing and burning surrounding bushes, the activities is not only for the outside surroundings, it also involves inside the house extra cleaning, not the normal everyday cleaning.

The main purpose of this exercise is to make the environment clean and free from diseases, and by so doing make the place disease free. Residents are encouraged to come out and help out during the exercise since it is a collective activity for the benefit of all and sundry.

At times people get confused as to whether environmental sanitation would hold or not but the best way to find out is by watching local TV stations like the Lagos TV a day before the D-Day or listening to early morning radio news. At times the Environmental sanitation can be suspended for one reason of the other such as elections or school examinations.