The Lagos State Government through its Cleaner Lagos Initiative is making efforts to clean up the entire nook and cranny of the state, but despite these efforts heaps of garbage keep springing up in some unlikely places amidst allegations of sabotage. MATTHEW ASABOR reports the challenges of creating a cleaner Lagos.
FRUSTRATION best describes Lagos State government’s current efforts at maintaining a clean mega city. The state government had started the Cleaner Lagos Initiative with the phasing out of cart pushers who collect garbage from individuals and take them to major dump sites dotting the state. Cart pushers who continued to operate despite government directive were arrested sometime back.
Private companies partnering with the state government in the Cleaner Lagos Initiative, such as Visionscope Sanitation Solutions and Waste Collection Operators, went to work, but instead of having a cleaner environment, heaps of refuse were seen dotting some places in the state. It was discovered that as soon as heaps of refuse were cleared in a particular area, within a few hours another huge heap of refuse would have been dumped as replacement.
This got everyone involved puzzled, leading to accusations of calculated sabotage by some individuals who could have been profiting from the old order. On Thursday, a round-table on waste collection operations in the state was held with all the major stakeholders. It was apparently a fruitful meeting as the stage was now set for the Cleaner Lagos Initiative to fully take off unhindered.
The matter had expectedly become a matter of concern for the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwanu Akiolu leading to a town hall meeting he hosted with stakeholders the previous day (last Wednesday) in Lagos Island, where he warned against efforts to sabotage the CLI.
“As Lagosians living in Lagos, everyone needs to stop dumping refuse indiscriminately anywhere. Don’t undermine the efforts of the Ambode-led government. The CLI is for the benefit of the citizens.
“As I speak now, 15 people have already been arrested for illegal dumping of waste. I cannot and will not plead with the authorities on behalf of any saboteurs,” the oba said.
But the Thursday parley at the State Secretariat, has ostensibly put an end to every misunderstanding that has arisen since the enforcement of the CLI commenced. The PSP operators at the meeting agreed to work with Visionscape to achieve the objectives of the CLI.
In an interview with Sunday Tribune, Special Adviser to the governor on Environment and Cleaner Lagos Initiative, Mr Adebola Shabi, had alleged that Private Sector Participant (PSP) operators and Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) officials were sabotaging government efforts..
Mr Shabi said when LAWMA was fully in charge of waste collection, disposal and regulation, the state government subsidised it financially, but the government had to bring in private investors in order to fully rechannel its financial resources to other social needs in the state. He noted that the current challenge would be overcome soon.
“We appeal to Lagosians to be patient with the state government in the transition programme, as the issue of (poor) waste management in the state will become a thing of the past in the next few days,” he told Sunday Tribune.
Before now PSP (an investor) had dragged the state government and Visionscope (another investor), before the Lagos State High Court to contest the alleged decision of the government to bring in a new investor in the collection and disposal of waste in the state. This move had tied the hands of Visionscope, stalling its operation, thereby leaving the management of waste in the state in the hands of nobody in particular. This, Sunday Tribune gathered was one of causes of the huge refuse everywhere. Both parties later found a common ground and decided to settle out of court.
Cart pushers banned
On the issue of cart pushers some of who were arrested recently, Chairman of the State Task Force on Environmental and Other Special Offences (Enforcement Unit), Mr. Olayinka Egbeyemi, told journalists in an interview that cart pushers had been removed from waste management operations in the state for good. He explained why government decided to move against errant operators who shunned government’s directive. According to him, government was ready to keep faith with the new initiative and punish anyone who violates the new environmental regulations.
“There are reports of refuse littering Lekki, Victoria Island, Ajah and other parts of the State and investigations reveal that it is the handiwork of unscrupulous elements within Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) and their sponsors who were not comfortable with the new arrangement for the management of waste in the state and are hell-bent on sabotaging government effort and frustrating them from carrying it out.
“The state government had vowed to go all out against the saboteurs and after their sponsors and punish them in line with the laws of the state. We also need to let Lagosians know that it is illegal to use cart pushers to evacuate refuse and they should stop encouraging it. There are PSP vehicles that come around to pack refuse and they are the ones they should patronise and not these cart pushers.
“We want to notify all these cart pushers that their activities are illegal in Lagos. Lagos is a mega city and we have all it takes to collect refuse. So, the issue of going to the streets and collecting refuse and then dumping same on the road is an act of sabotage to the government,” Egbeyemi explained.
Furthermore, the Task Force Chairman said that the enforcement would continue across the state until the activities of cart pushers and other unscrupulous elements found to be frustrating government’s efforts are completely brought to a halt.
When the Public Relations Officer, of the Task Force, Mr. Adebayo Taofik was contacted on the fate of those arrested, he said, they have been charged to court for necessary prosecution and punishment.
With the arrest of cart pushers all over the state it is now difficult to find one on the street. However Sunday Tribune was lucky to run into one Salish Abu who operates in Egbeda area in Lagos. He was a petty trader in the Northern part f the country, but due to the Boko Haram crisis he came to Lagos and began to work as a cart pusher. Now that people like him have been banned from the job, he is currently jobless though going back to the north is not an option.
“It is not true that we collect refuse and dump them at Olusosun (dump site) and not in those places mentioned by the government. The refuse seen everywhere is the handiwork residents of the communities,” Salisu told Sunday Tribune, adding that “if government could employ us in the new scheme, it would be better instead of arresting and putting us in prison.”
Ready for work
On whether Visionscope Sanitation Solutions was ready for the task at hand, the company said it had taken delivery of $50 million worth of consignment of waste management vehicles for immediate flag- off of operation from Agege area.
During the facility tour of the newly refurbishment Tapa Transfer Loading Station, (TLS) in Lagos Island, Chief Operations Officer of the company, Mr. Thomas Forgacs, stated “that there is a consignment of 100 brand new waste management vehicles embedded with cutting-edge technology aimed at ensuring a cleaner, safer and healthier Lagos State.”
He explained that, the company had successfully cleared over 1,000 littered black spots and illegal dump sites across Lagos State, as part of their pre-operational phase.
However, as the dust seems settled for now on the garbage crisis, provided the tempo is sustained, Lagos residents might just begin to look forward to the dream of a cleaner, healthier mega city.