Some residents of Surulere, Lagos State, want faster refuse evacuation as the monthly environmental sanitation holds across the state on Saturday.

They made the call in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos, ahead of the September sanitation exercise.

NAN ​‌⁠‌‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‍‌​‌​​‌‌​reports that the exercise, reintroduced in April after almost 10 years, has continued to attract residents’ participation, although waste collection remains a concern in parts of Surulere.

Areas such as Masha, Kilo, Ogunlana and Lawanson have recorded residents cleaning their surroundings and clearing drainage channels during previous exercises.

However, some residents said refuse often accumulated after the exercise, particularly around designated collection points.

In July, NAN observed heaps of refuse in parts of Surulere in spite of residents’ participation in the exercise.

Some residents expressed concern that uncollected waste could worsen flooding and create health risks, particularly during the rainy season.

In August, NAN also observed residents cleaning their surroundings and drainage channels in parts of the area, while refuse was evacuated from some locations.

Ahead of Saturday’s exercise, some residents said prompt evacuation of refuse generated during the exercise would encourage greater participation.

Mr Tajudeen Ajibola, a resident of Masha, told NAN that residents would be encouraged to participate if refuse cleared from their surroundings was evacuated promptly.

He said regular evacuation would also discourage residents from returning waste to streets, drainage channels and other unauthorised locations.

Another resident, Mrs Titilope Ifagbemi, of Kilo, said the monthly exercise had restored attention to environmental cleanliness after the exercise was suspended for several years.

She, however, urged residents to regard sanitation as a continuous responsibility rather than an activity limited to the last Saturday of each month.

A trader in Lawanson, Mr Ridwan Sulaimon, urged the government to provide adequate waste disposal facilities in busy areas to make compliance easier for residents and traders.

He said providing refuse collection points would help reduce indiscriminate dumping after the sanitation exercise.

NAN reports that the Lagos State Government has continued to deploy agencies, including the Lagos Waste Management Authority, the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency and the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps.

The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps is popularly known as Kick Against Indiscipline and supports environmental sanitation and enforcement across the state.