The Lagos State Government has condemned the statement of a female member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Ushie Uguamaye, for her statement that “Lagos is smelling.”
The Director, Public Affairs of the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, Kunle Adesina, stated that despite seeing Lagos as smelly, the corps member still goes about rollicking the night life the city offers as seen in her TikTok videos.
He said those who hold such view are actually the ones who troop into Lagos in droves to put undue pressure on the infrastructures in the state.
“They can always say whatever they want to say, but what they fail to realise is that it is the same people who come into Lagos in droves, in thousands on a daily basis, that make a mess of all the steps that the state government is always putting in place. Yes, they are the ones”.
“When we say there should be no street trading, they are the same ones who carry backpacks on their backs, who come into Lagos with no family, no kind of lineage, or where to put their heads at night to sleep. They are the ones selling at the bus stops or even in the traffic. They are the ones messing up the roads with open defecation. They are the ones who engage in it, and at the same time they turn around to accuse the government of not doing what is right”.
“They are the same people who make a mess of all the programmes and plans put in place, and when you try to even use the long hands of the law on them, people keep shouting, the government is too draconian. You are applying force”
“You can’t stop them; they will tell you they are citizens of Nigeria which allows free movement, free exit for everybody. There is no law that says ‘Mister, you cannot come from Sokoto or from Anambra State to Lagos.’ You can’t stop them.”
“Their influx is part of what has put some of the undue pressures on our social social infrastructures. So me, I won’t be the one to be propagating all the nonsensical thoughts she talked about. I’ve seen several pictures of the lady in night clubs and all the rest, enjoying herself in the same Lagos,” he said.
Further speaking, he said despite what such people think about Lagos, global organisations have always rated the state in good light.
On the corps member’s claim that the cost of living in Lagos is too high, Adeshina pointed out that the situation is not peculiar to the state alone.
He said, “If you say things are too expensive, global recession is not only about Lagos. I remember the last time I had opportunity of traveling. What we normally buy for $1, when we went there, they were selling for five, six, 10 dollars. When I asked the people, they said, well, it’s not only in Nigeria, the issue is global.”
He said the life on the island and places like Lekki is not meant for everyone, just as he urged people to live within their means.