Press Releases

Fashola Meets Waste Managers In Lagos, Pledges Sustained Govt Support

Dec 22, 2009 - Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Tuesday held a parley with Private Sector Participants (PSP) in the Waste management process in the State, urging all residents of Lagos to continue to work towards keeping the legacy of maintaining a cleaner Lagos alive.

According to Governor Fashola who spoke at a One Day Town hall Meeting with all PSP Waste Managers in the State held at the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Ijora Yard, the feat was not achieved in one day but as a result of painstaking work started by his predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Governor Fashola who emphasized that there is big business in the waste management chain like recycling and power generation added that the aspiration of all in the business should be how to expand to take full advantage of its immense possibilities like generating power from bio-gradable waste in the foreseeable future.

The Governor also urged all wealthy Nigerians to contribute their quota to the actualization of the desired goals in waste generation and treatment by repatriating funds stashed abroad back home to build the Nigerian economy.

According to Governor Fashola, the problem of importation of old and time-worn weary compactor trucks would be solved if Nigerians can pull resources and own new trucks.

He explained that because trucks generally have a very short lifespan due to the nature of deployment, it is very needful for Nigerians to kickstart processes of owning manufacturing outfits and businesses which could solve some of the major problems that come with waste management.

He directed that henceforth, towing trucks of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) should assist compactors and trucks that break down on the road to safe locations at no cost.

He urged the waste operators to have confidence that the business would grow, urging them all to see the possibilities in turning waste to power as many countries worldwide have done.

On complaints about drivers who indiscriminately knock down street sweepers, Governor Fashola said this was one of the reasons behind the creation of driving institutes across the state to train drivers on safe driving habits.

He promised to look into the possibilities of providing general life insurance policy which has already been provided for all civil servants, if employees of LAWMA are already not included.

Governor Fashola also said a special accident and injury cover for all staff in the high prone risk category that has a very competitive premium is also being considered by the State Government for the waste managers, especially those on the roads.

He appealed to the elites to always honour bills of waste carted away from their premises, saying the tenements should realize that it cost the service providers money to pay the staff.

Earlier, the Managing Director of LAWMA, Mr Ola Oresanya said the PSP programme which commenced in 1992 has over 358 registered operators with about 15,000 jobs being created in the last twenty four months.

He added that in spite of the appreciable scorecard, some weaknesses like low financial capacity by 60 percent of the investors in the business and lack of technical capacity to manage the operation and maintenance of logistics of the business by over 75 percent of the investors still exist.

He pledged that LAWMA will continue to improve on its evidence based benchmarking through proper data collection and capacity development for its scheduled officers assigned to monitor and manage investors in PSP.

Also speaking, the Chairman of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Mr Adekunle Oduyemi pledged to always put in their best to ensure that Lagos ranks amongst the cleanest cities in the world.

In his address, Chairman of the PSP Operators, Mr Adepitan Adegboyega said the operators are facing many problems, one of which includes low level of collection from tenements which is between 10 to 40 percent.

He urged Governor Fashola to consider the possibility of adopting concession in view of the challenges which is being faced with the present franchising which the State Government has adopted on the programme.

He lamented that the operators cannot charge economic rate from the consumers because what is currently being charged is just about 50 percent of the real commercial cost of clearing the waste.

He said the operators support franchising but believes the implementation should be reviewed because the cost of maintenance is very high.

He requested a bail out for the operators as well as the importation of brand new compactors which could be sold at subsidized rates to the operators.

The Town Hall meeting was attended by Special Adviser to the Governor on the Environment, Mr Sesan Olanrewaju, members of the management board of LAWMA and PSP waste managers and operators from all over the State.