Sterling Bank’s sustainability campaign known as Sterling Environmental Makeover (STEM), has been commended for being in line with the Lagos State government vision of of encouraging residents to show respect for the environment. Some senior officials of the Lagos State Government made the remarks on the initiative while addressing the mammoth crowd at the flag off of the mega cleaning exercise which took place at the Computer Village in Ikeja at the weekend.

Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Babatunde Adejare, who led the State government team commended Sterling Bank for its outstanding show of commitment to the campaign for a livable environment.

Adejare said, “We need to have more respect for our environment than we do now. The state government cancelled the monthly sanitation exercise because it believed that cleaning the environment should be part of our daily lives and not just a monthly routine.”

The commissioner disclosed that the state government recently introduced the Cleaner Lagos Initiative in a bid to better manage solid waste. He urged participants in the cleaning exercise to extend the practice to their different homes as part of their contribution to the emergence of a cleaner Lagos that is fit for human habitation.

Adejare enjoined residents in Lagos not to block drainages with their refuse but to put them in bags and tie the mouths before leaving them in front of their houses for officials of Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to pick up.

In his welcome address, Mr. Yemi Adeola, Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank Plc, disclosed that the STEM programme was being held simultaneously in eight other locations across the country. These include the seven state capitals of Ogun, Oyo, Kwara, Rivers, Enugu, Plateau, Kano and in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).