LAWMA, Environmental Health Officers Collaborate For Public Health Safety

The Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) and the Environmental Health Officers Association of Nigeria (EHOAN)Lagos State chapter have agreed to integrate a joint task force to actualise their shared vision of a cleaner and more vibrant Lagos environment.

This resulted from their courtesy visit at LAWMA headquarters, Ijora Olopa.

In his opening remarks, the managing director and chief executive officer of LAWMA, Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin, commended EHOAN for its efforts to ensure a cleaner environment, especially within local communities. He added that the visit would foster a more robust collaboration between the two environmental stakeholders.

He said “It is worth noting that environmental health officers are the bedrock of what we do in LAWMA. We both have a direct impact on public health. Over the past few months, the Authority has taken proactive steps to decommission landfills, where we will now have transfer loading stations, and waste will be moved to Epe and Ikorodu landfills. There are also plans to have material recovery facilities in all the local governments. A lot is also happening in the waste-to-energy sector, and we have already collaborated on that”.

The LAWMA boss said the authority has beefed up enforcement in markets across the state, noting that 13 markets were recently shut down over environmental infractions.

President of the state chapter of EHOAN, Dr Cyril Akinyele Babasope, noted that the visit was meant to chart a new path toward more efficient, responsive, and sustainable waste management anchored on vigilance, environmental stewardship, and robust community engagement.

He said, “We are here today to reaffirm our collective commitment to building a healthier, cleaner, and more sustainable Lagos. As environmental health officers, we are not only protectors of public health but also the bridge between statutory regulations and the communities we serve. As partners, we can form joint task forces to identify problems and implement lasting solutions. We understand that one entity cannot build a well-managed waste system alone. There is also the need for capacity building to generate specific data to track performance and enable our officers to detect, analyse, and respond to emerging environmental risks efficiently and precisely,” he stressed.

Also speaking, the National President of the Association, Dr Samuel Akinbodunrin Akingbeyin, noted that the body was committed to executing its environmental sustainability mandate, urging the LAWMA boss to intensify efforts in the provision of reliable data for environmental health officers to achieve a desired result.