Dolapo Joseph

@GRVlagos let me respectfully disagree. Shutting down a city of over 20 million people is not what we are doing. We are asking residents to dedicate one hundred and twenty minutes, once every thirty days, to clean their immediate surroundings. That is not a shutdown. That is called taking responsibility. I agree completely that waste management logistics, from collection to disposal to recycling, are critical. That is why we have spent the past year strengthening those very systems. We have banned single use plastics, we are converting Olusosun landfill to energy, we are deploying biogas facilities in our markets, we are partnering with Lafarge to turn waste into valuable resources, and we are empowering young innovators with technology to improve sanitation access. These are not cosmetic actions. They are structural changes to how Lagos manages waste. But here is what I also know. No system of waste management, no matter how sophisticated, will succeed if citizens refuse to take basic responsibility for their environment. You cannot complain about flooding while dumping refuse in drains. You cannot demand a cleaner city while sweeping waste into the road. You cannot blame government for a dirty environment when you are unwilling to clean the front of your own house. The monthly sanitation exercise is not a substitute for systemic reform. It is a complement to it. It is about rebuilding a culture of environmental stewardship that has been lost over time. Technology and infrastructure alone cannot save a city whose people have abandoned personal responsibility. We welcome objective criticism that offers solutions. But dismissing a civic exercise as unimaginative, while offering no alternative path to citizen participation, does not move us forward. #LagosSanitationExercise