The Coordinating Consultant, Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency, Mrs. Titi Anibaba, has said the state’s environmental beautification and tree planting projects have helped in reducing the security challenge in the state.
She said this on Friday during a media session on this year’s tree planting campaign, which will come up in different parts of the state on Sunday, July 14.
Anibaba stated that many open spaces, loops and under bridges hitherto occupied by street urchins, miscreants and hoodlums had been transformed into modern parks and gardens, which had since changed the landscape of the state to a more alluring and pleasing scenery.
According to her, the ambience created in the Lagos environment through the beautification projects and tree planting campaign had won many accolades for the state government, while also attracting visitors.
She said tree planting was a worthy exercise that benefited the environment by purifying the air that people breathe in, reduce the effect of noise and flooding as well as enhance the value of property.
“Trees balance and reduce the effect of flooding by retaining water from the rain. When you have trees, people breathe cleaner air, while the value of property goes up,” she said.
Anibaba also noted that the state government’s tree planting campaign had waxed continued to stronger since its commencement in 2008.
She said, “We have planted 4.3 million trees in six years of the campaign, while we hope to reach the 10 million mark in the next five years.
“No doubt, these trees have transformed our environment. Nigerians have bought into the tree planting campaign as our people have gradually come to see the benefits of trees, and now, the campaign has spread to other states such as Osun and Ogun.”
She also remarked that the Organised Private Sector had bought into the programme as 132 out of the 180 parks in the state evolved through private sector initiatives.
On efforts to sustain the trees, Anibaba said the campaign had come to stay in the state because the government had put in place measures to sustain it, including the creation of LASPARK as an institutional framework for sustenance of the project.
Other measures include the employment of neighbourhood watchers to monitor gardens and trees, and the categorisation of parks into three for easy administration.
