Lagos State government on Thursday disowned the contents of a viral video where some uniformed persons described as impostors were promoting the sale of a branded waste basket purporting to be from the state.
In a statement he signed, the State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tunji Bello, stated that all the persons in the viral video were fraudsters who did not represent the state government or any of its agencies.
Bello affirmed that there was no unit or agency under the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources that went by the name “Lagos State vehicle waste basket (LAVWAB) enforcement/compliance” as portrayed in the branded vehicle which the fraudsters operated from.
He added that the dubious intent of the criminals in the video could be deduced from the fact that they operated from inside a van in an automobile workshop and were very dodgy about the kind of enforcement exercise they were purportedly carrying out.
He explained that while the state government had always encouraged all buses, trucks and articulated vehicles to provide waste baskets in their vehicles to encourage people not to litter the roads and streets, it had never prescribed any branded waste basket.
The commissioner said the development had been communicated to security agents to spread their dragnets towards apprehending the criminals and their cohorts wherever they operated from and bring them to book.
Bello enjoined members of the public to report any incident of anyone purporting to be representing the state government and coercing them to purchase any particular brand of waste baskets to be placed in their vehicles.
The commissioner encouraged owners and operators of buses, trucks and articulated vehicles in the state to continue to provide waste baskets of their choice in their vehicles as part of efforts to discourage littering and promote a culture of proper waste disposal.
