The Lagos State authorities and stakeholders have expressed concern that improperly disposed plastic waste often finds its approach into drains, canals, and the lagoon, thereby contributing to flooding and environmental air pollution. This got here present realities that the state generates roughly 13,000 tonnes of waste each day, with plastics accounting for about 15 per cent.
In a bid to sort out the issue urgently, the state authorities and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) have intensified requires local weather motion, a dedication to environmental sustainability and local weather resilience, and are asking residents to take pressing, collective motion in opposition to plastic air pollution and the degradation of pure ecosystems.
The everlasting secretary, Office of Environmental Services, Gaji Omobolaji Tajudeen, described the problem as one with direct implications for public well being, houses, companies and transportation, stressing that Lagos, as a coastal state
with low-lying and densely populated communities, couldn’t afford to delay motion on local weather change.
According to him, the state’s wetlands, mangroves and lagoon fronts function pure defences in opposition to flooding and coastal erosion, and he warns that indiscriminate reclamation and improvement in these environmentally delicate areas expose communities to higher dangers.
Gaji, throughout the twentieth version of the annual Walk for Nature, organised by the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources in partnership with the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), held at Makanjuola Hall, Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, outlined the federal government’s interventions in three essential areas: plastic air pollution management, the safety of wetlands and the enlargement of drainage and inexperienced infrastructure.
On plastic air pollution, he recalled the state’s ban on Styrofoam and different specified single-use plastics, noting that enforcement commenced on July 1, 2025, including that the federal government was additionally working with innovators to advertise sustainable alternate options whereas strengthening environmental training in faculties and communities.
Harping on wetland safety, he said that the federal government suspended reclamation actions on wetlands, floodplains, and lagoon fronts in September 2025 with out the requisite Environmental Impact Assessment approvals and drainage clearances.
He emphasised that every one improvement actions should adjust to environmental rules and drainage necessities, noting that defending wetlands and mangroves was important to constructing a safer, extra climate-resilient Lagos.
He additional reaffirmed the administration’s dedication to investing in drainage infrastructure, restoring mangroves, planting timber and growing parks to strengthen the state’s pure defences in opposition to flooding and rising temperatures.
Gaji harassed that authorities efforts would obtain higher influence with the lively participation of residents, urging them to eliminate waste responsibly, hold drains and drainage channels clear, scale back their reliance on single-use plastics and keep away from constructing on wetlands and drainage corridors.
He inspired them to take the lead in selling environmental duty inside their hostels and surrounding communities by waste separation, tree planting and the adoption of sustainable practices.
He additionally urged younger folks to carry themselves, their communities, and the federal government accountable for safeguarding the setting, noting that their era would bear the long-term penalties of choices made at this time.
He harassed the necessity to maintain the spirit of the train by making environmentally accountable selections of their each day lives, stressing that the success of the initiative would finally be measured by actions taken to guard the setting lengthy after the stroll has ended.
The Director of Ecology and Wetlands, Mrs Tolu Adeyo, harassed that local weather change was not a distant concern, as its impacts have been more and more evident in rising temperatures, altering climate patterns, flooding and biodiversity loss.
She emphasised the significance of defending and restoring pure ecosystems, significantly wetlands, mangroves, waterways, forests and inexperienced areas, which function pure buffers in opposition to flooding, assist biodiversity, retailer carbon and maintain neighborhood livelihoods.
Adeyo referred to as on residents, companies, communities and establishments to translate environmental consciousness into sensible motion, stressing that local weather resilience couldn’t be achieved by Government alone.
For the Chairman of the NEC of the NCF, Justice R I B Adebiyi, the local weather disaster is a check of man’s duty, his creativity, braveness, and our widespread humanity.
“Future generations could by no means know our names, however they’ll stay with the results of the selections we make at this time. They will both inherit a world wherein we ignored the warning indicators, or a world wherein we dared to reply.
“Let them inherit a world of hope relatively than remorse, a world of alternative relatively than destruction, “she mentioned.
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