Follow Us on Google
By Christopher Oji
The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Enforcement Unit (Task Force) has reminded residents that the state is resuming the monthly, voluntary environmental sanitation exercise, effective from April 2026, the task force as expected will be fully active and involved in the exercise.
Chairman of task force, CSP Adetayo Akerele, on Monday, during a parley with journalists, said members of the public should be informed that the essence of the monthly sanitization exercise is precisely targeting improved public health.
He said, “The primary duty of the task force is to make Lagos, your Lagos, our Lagos, our metro-city state environmentally safe and convenient for all residents.
“This we have been doing through the following ways: Routine advocacy and public sensitization using the mass media; conducting regular raids to rid blackspots of criminal elements, dislodge drug gangs, et Al, checkmating the nuisances of street traders; and checkmating open defecation/urination and environmental degradation.”
Enumerating further, he stated that the agency has also been saddled with the duty of dismantling and removing slums/shanties; collaborative operations to fight and forestall kidnapping, quackery, human trafficking, etc., and checkmating the dual menace of commercial motorcyclists (okada) and one-way violations.
“It is also part of our duties to restore sanity in the metro city and ensure peaceful living for Lagosians,” he said.
Akerele added that “unfortunately, there are some people in our midst who do not want this to be so, whose actions and activities are in sharp contrast to the legally established mandates of the task force. We, as a task force, cannot allow that.
“Let me also use this opportunity to say that the state is resuming monthly, voluntary environmental sanitation exercise effective from April 2026, targeting improved public health and the task force as expected will be fully active and involved.”
Akerele used the opportunity to delve into the issue of trespassing on BRT corridor, saying, “I am aware of the issues raised bordering on the BRT corridors enforcement activities to the extent that most people are not able to differentiate the Lagos State Task Force from other agencies of the government who perform complementary roles in the administration.
“However, one thing we must bear in mind is that the rules governing the operation or use of the BRT were put in place in the interest of the public, which is what the corridor serves and not Akerele, not members of the task force, not any single agency of the government, but the larger Lagos.
Other News
“It is to ensure the safety and convenience of the generality of Lagosians, to ensure promptness. In fact, an acceptable level of both convenience and peace of mind is greatly being achieved in this respect.
“To that extent, our interventions there are to checkmate abuse and nuisance.
“We are not here to shift or apportion blames, but I recall two different occasions in which a social media commentator who later turned out to be Objective TV media reached out, to me, ascribing to the task force an enforcement operation carried out by a sister agency and making a demand for the release of a vehicle duly seized for contravening traffic regulations of the state and blaming the task force.
“When it became clear that he was wrong, he changed gear, resorting to subtle blackmail.
“He insinuated that our men on duty hijacked a vehicle, drove it against one-way and turned around to accuse the driver of the offence.
“That, of course, is far from the truth; what makes this case quite unfortunate is that this particular individual has in the past tried to negatively exploit our relationship; he thought he could use the open-door policy and receptive approach of the agency to public complaints through our combined complaints response unit to blackmail us by demanding the release of a vehicle duly arrested for contravening Lagos State traffic law.
“In this particular case, I want to state clearly that the driver in question actually contravened state traffic laws. He was lawfully arrested for the offences.
“Having said these, I want to state categorically that no single individual is greater than an entire state and as a result no single individual’s interest should outweigh the interests of the generality of Lagosians.
“What he is obviously doing is, trying to use his Objective TV media to gain undue advantage forgetting that I, as the chairman of the Lagos State Task Force, I also have a good knowledge of the media because I am also professionally trained in journalism; we also have other media professionals working in the task force.
“We will continue to do our best to rid the state of all forms of environmental nuisance and we remain open to suggestions and genuine inputs from residents and positive-minded citizens of the state.
“We will also continue to refuse to cower or let the selfish interests or demands of individuals to distract or derail us from our fundamental duties and roles as the custodian of an environmentally-friendly Lagos, thus, to do otherwise is to denounce the confidence that His Excellency, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sawo–Olu, on behalf of Lagosians, reposed in us.”
