Pay attention to environment, Ambode tells Lagosians

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State says Lagosians need to pay more attention to their environment to make it useful for them.

The governor said residents of the state could not continue to do business without thinking of environmental sustainability.

Ambode, who spoke during an event to mark the 2015 World Environment Day in Ikeja, explained that the new perspective of the world was that ecology and economics were two sides of a coin.

The 2015 celebration was themed, ‘Seven Billion Dream, One Planet, Consume with Care’.

He said, “If the environment is not in harmony with our ambition, then we must change our ambition to be in perfect harmony with the environment.

“This is the wisdom we require to live peacefully on earth. We recognise the fact that mother earth can survive without us but we cannot survive without her.”

The governor advised everyone to rise up and save the environment to ensure healthy and sustainable life on the planet.

He said the alteration in the environment was affecting the lives of people everyday.

He said, “To solve the problems of the environment, everyone on earth must act; it is not government’s business, it is not some people’s business, it is everybody’s business. It is one world, one environment; the problems of the environment transcend boundary. An error by one is a serious concern for all.”

The Permanent Secretary, Office of Environmental Services, Lagos State Ministry of the Environment, Hakeem Ogunbambi, said the government had devoted attention to the environment through policies and programmes such as the institutionalisation of tree planting exercise which had led to the planting of over five million trees.