Before we return to the ritual… let us first return to the basics:.. Teach cleanliness… Enforce standards… Reward order… Build systems…
LAGOS is about to bring back Monthly Environmental Sanitation.
Once upon a time, the whole country would shut down.
No movement. No business.
Just brooms, wheelbarrows and forced obedience.
By 10 a.m. on Saturday, we were done.
By Monday, the dirt was back.
Then we were told:
“Cleanliness should be a way of life… not a monthly ritual.”
We agreed.
We celebrated.
We stopped.
Today, Lagos reminds us.
Drains are blocked and breeding more than mosquitoes.
Roads have become dust factories.
Even Ikoyi and VI now contribute their own fragrance.
Street sweepers are working…
but the dirt is working harder.
Now we want to bring back sanitation day.
But let’s be honest:
Are we cleaning… or performing?
Clean cities are not built once a month.
They are built daily.
You cannot sweep discipline into existence.
You cannot schedule responsibility.
Before we return to the ritual,
let us first return to the basics:
Teach cleanliness.
Enforce standards.
Reward order.
Build systems.
Re-orientate the people.
Begin from the grassroots.
Involve the local government workers.
Bring back wole wole!
Otherwise, we will shut down the country again…
only to reopen it to the same smell.
💡 Moral:
Cleanliness is not an event.
It is a culture.
