Sanitation: Ogun institutes yearly award for councils

To promote healthy environment and be the cleanest state, the Ogun State government has instituted a yearly “Best Local Government Sanitation Performance Award”.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Environment and head of the Ogun State Waste Management Authority (Ogwama), Mr. Ola Oresanya, stated this when he  visited Abeokuta and Odeda local governments.

He said the government would set up a committee to assess the local governments’ sanitation achievements for the award.

He said as part of the key performance index for the assessment, the local governments must enact new environmental by-laws, which would empower them to inspect houses, markets and other public places for sanitation compliance and infractions, as the old law was obselete.

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Oresanya wants the local government authorities to see waste management as a disease-control strategy as all houses in their council areas should have covered waste bins in their frontage for collection by waste managers. Community waste recycling plants will be sited in each of the 20 local governments to provide employment for women and the youth, he said.

He  urged them on the need to employ sweepers to clean their inner streets while the state government would engage sweepers to take care of major streets and make special arrangements for schools, markets and other public places.

Responding, the Chairman, Transition Committee of Abeokuta South Local Government, Ayomide Somide, said his council had established an Environmental Taskforce to complement the government’s efforts at making the environment clean while his Odeda counterpart, Semiu Bola-Lawal, called on his people to make clean and healthy environment their watchword, saying that the council would spare no effort at winning the inaugural best local government sanitation performance award.

Source:The Nation