The Ogun State Government has ruled out the reintroduction of the monthly environmental sanitation exercise, opting instead to strengthen daily waste collection and disposal through increased investment in equipment for the Ogun State Waste Management Authority (OGWAMA).
Governor Dapo Abiodun stated this in Abeokuta while commissioning waste management equipment, operational vehicles and an office block to mark the first six months in office of the Special Adviser and Managing Director of OGWAMA, Hon. Farouk Adeniyi Akintunde.
Represented by the Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Ola Oresanya, the governor said Ogun had moved beyond the era of shutting down economic activities for several hours each month in the name of environmental sanitation.
He said residents had increasingly embraced daily sanitation, making a return to the monthly exercise unnecessary.
‘Already our people are used to daily sanitation, so instead of re-introducing monthly Environmental Exercise, we have decided to buy more Compactors and other waste management equipments for the state Waste Management Authority OGWAMA to daily collect and dispose properly waste generated by households, commercial outlets and industrial facilities in conjunction with accredited PSP across the state.’
Abiodun said the state government would soon take delivery of additional compactors and other waste management equipment to further strengthen OGWAMA’s operations.
‘Infact the state government will soon take delivery of these Compactors and other waste equipment to further strengthen OGWAMA thereby affirming the state government’s determination of not going back to the old ways when Environmental Sanitation Exercise are done once in a month with its problems of ineffective collection and disposal even hours after the end of the exercise.’