The Lagos State Government says it will honour individuals, groups and organisations that have contributed to the environment in the state.
Commissioner for Environment, Mr Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, said on Thursday, April 4, 2019 that the individuals would be honoured during the second edition of the Environmental Award tagged “Lagos Green Award’’.
Durosinmi-Etti said that the award ceremony was part of activities to commemorate the 2019 World Environment Day.
He said that the Lagos Green Award was initiated to recognise and honour individuals, groups and organisations that had contributed to a sustainable environment in the state.
According to him, the awards, which are in nine different categories, stem from the deliberate policy of government to stimulate the appreciation of the environment among individuals and groups.
“Our environment will be safer if we all embrace the opportunity to get involved in protecting it, which is the superstructure on which our civilisation rests,’’ he said in a statement.
Durosinmi-Etti said that members of the public could nominate deserving individuals, groups or organisations whose actions had directly improved the environmental resilience of Lagos State.
He said that the nine areas for nomination were Environmental Management, Best Environment Practices, Oil Spill Management, as well as Health, Safety & Environment.
Other areas are Waste Prevention & Recycling, Solid Waste Treatment & Disposal, Emissions Control Technologies, Natural Resources Conservation, as well as Innovation and Sustainable Solutions.
Durosinmi-Etti said that the conferment of the awards would be based on a competitive process in which participating units would be assessed against different sets of environmental performance benchmarks.
He urged the people making nominations or entries for the award to ensure that such nominations or entries clearly identified an environmental initiative and its impact on the state.
The commissioner called on the public to submit nominations to the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment or through the official website: publicaffairs@moelagos.gov.ng on or before April 25, 2019.
Durosinmi-Etti said that the presentation of awards to deserving winners would be made as part of the 2019 World Environment Day celebration on June 5.
The World Environment Day is a United Nations (UN) designated day which is marked annually across the world to articulate global environmental concerns.
By Florence Onuegbu
