It was an exciting moment for some street sweepers at the weekend as Spotlight Africa, a Lagos-based non-profit organisation, in partnership with Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), rewarded 150 of those sweepers in recognition of their efforts to make Lagos clean.
The event with the theme, ‘LAWMA Women Making a Difference Community Awards Ceremony’ and described as the first of its kind, was held in Ikeja, the Lagos State capital.
In her remarks, Nonye Mike-Nnaji, president of the NGO and managing partner at HSPG Realtors, extolled the virtues of the street sweepers for their exceptional delivery, saying that despite the risk associated with the job and low remuneration, they still remained dedicated to duty.
According to Nnaji, the objective of the event was to celebrate the women who were making a difference by keeping the highways and communities clean.
“What these women are doing is incredible. Some of them wake up as early as 4am to sweep the streets of Lagos. What they did during the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria was magnificent,’ Nnaji said.
She posited that their good work prompted her team to be the first to celebrate them. “The day I saw one of them working tirelessly, I began to think what it meant to clean the dirt in Lagos.
I met some corporates to come and support us to celebrate them, and the turnout is overwhelming,” she said.
She said plans were underway to organise a Yuletide party for them, and called on coporates to partner with them to make it successful.
In his address, Oladimeji Oresanya, CEO of LAWMA, urged the street sweepers to maintain the tempo, saying it gladdened his heart to see them making impact in the community.
“The last four years was tough for them. But we are happy that the glow in their eyes and faces has been restored,” he said.
“You can recall, 10 years back, we did celebrate them annually. They had a handshake with the state governor to boost their morale, but all of a sudden, that stopped. But now, these ones are back on the streets, interestingly, Lagos is getting cleaner,” Oresanya enthused.
The LAWMA boss maintained that the event went beyond celebration of refuse collection, to devising ways to enable them have access to cheap loans, so they can do other things for themselves considering the job is part time.
Amaka Onyemelukwe, head of public affairs and communication, Coca-Cola, said her company was glad to partner Spotlight Africa to champion the course of women in the society.
“For us as a company, we are deeply passionate about women. If you look around, there is always a woman on the street selling Coca Cola and as such any initiative that impacts women, we are proud to always be part of it,” she disclosed.
One of the awardees, Stella Oluku, urged Lagos State government authorities to look into reckless driving in the state, which is a big challenge to her work.
“You know in Lagos, there are many reckless drivers, even when they sight you with safety pole, they will still want to climb on it. We want the government to checkmate this, and build more mechanisms to protect our lives,” she said.
Spotlight Africa has said it is poised to enhance the continent where every individual can live out to his or her fullest potential through a power network of varied human investment.
