Ebute-Meta residents raise alarm over dumpsite

Residents along four streets off Apapa Road, Lagos Mainland Local Government, Lagos State, have cried to the state government and management of the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to save them from what they feared could be an epidemic from a transit dumpsite situated in their area. Residents on the four streets – Ibadan, Odaliki, […]

Residents along four streets off Apapa Road, Lagos Mainland Local Government, Lagos State, have cried to the state government and management of the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to save them from what they feared could be an epidemic from a transit dumpsite situated in their area.

Residents on the four streets – Ibadan, Odaliki, Thomas and Niger – in a protest letter dated September 10, 2018 to the agency’s management, stated they have been experiencing environmental pollution and degradation from the toxic odour emanating from the site.

In the letter, signed by the group’s coordinator, Mr Williams Oluwaseun and over 100 others, the residents also claimed they have been experiencing insomnia due to the constant movement of LAWMA’s operational vehicles, which they said operate round the clock.

The residents, therefore, pleaded with the Lagos State government and the agency’s management to treat them as “human beings and Nigerian citizens” by relocating the site, within the shortest possible time, to an area that would not constitute any health hazard.

The letter reads in part, “As a direct result of the activities going on at the site, there has been an influx of flies, mosquitoes and many other insects in our area, and it is only a matter of time before there is an outbreak of epidemics here, not to mention that we are now experiencing environmental pollution and degradation due to the terrible toxic odour emanating from the site.”

“The matter is an embarrassment to residents and visitors to the area alike, and a serious menace and nuisance. Obviously the project was conceptualized without human consideration. The C.D.A. that is supposed to be an integral part of the government was never consulted. We ponder on the rationale behind locating a dumpsite in our community: Is it to exterminate the residents?

“Global best practices state that a project of this nature should be situated at the outskirts of communities. Nobody would desire a project like this in his or her place of habitation for even a second.”

Responding to the residents’ complaint, LAWMA’s Managing Director, Mr Segun Adeniji, described the letter as “politically motivated.”

Saying LAWMA fumigates the dump site once every week, Adeniji accused the residents of the community of not complying with the building code, a development he said that hinders the agency’s operation.

Declaring that residents anywhere cannot stop government from functioning, he said, “The place they are complaining about was built during the Alhaji Lateef Jakande administration. Anywhere in the world, dumpsites are always located in the residence, but the government must ensure that the place is fumigated once in a week, and this is what we always do.

“The government must also ensure that the dumpsite does not have environmental and health hazard on the residents of the area. And where is the epidemic they said?”

He explained that though the law regulating building in Lagos State stipulates there must be a car park attached to any building, residents of the protesting four streets had been parking their cars on the road, which he said negatively affects LAWMA operations.

“However, I have invited them for a meeting to educate them, because they cannot stop government from functioning, while the government must ensure its operations doesn’t have any environmental and health hazard on the people,” Adeniji said.