The Lagos State Government has said that the newly enacted Environmental Management and Protection Law will provide investment opportunities for residents.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Civic Engagement, Kehinde Joseph, said the law was designed to holistically address the challenges of waste management in the state and create opportunities for more people with the capacity to mobilise resources and participate in refuse management in the state.
He said residents should support the novel approach to waste management in the state as the Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, aimed to innovatively tackle the challenge of waste disposal headlong so as to ensure cleaner and healthier Lagos.
Joseph said, “Lagos as a megacity with a population of about 22 million requires a dynamic approach, which will involve the residents and the waste management consortium playing their assigned roles effectively in the waste management efforts of the state.
“The new law is not a threat to existing waste managers; rather, it opens a window of opportunity for more people to come into the different levels of waste collection and disposal. Several thousands of hands will be absorbed into the system, thereby reducing unemployment level in the state.”
He said residents should see the new approach to environmental management as an opportunity to achieve a sustainable, clean and healthy environment, which would in turn impact positively on their health status, adding that the monthly environmental sanitation was cancelled to give way for the new initiative.
According to him, the new law has provided effective monitoring machinery to ensure a cleaner and healthier environment in the state
