Furore over Lagos new environmental sanitation programme

The desire of the Lagos State Government for a cleaner and more sanitised Lagos under its Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) is being threatened by the approach adopted in implementing the programme. The CLI was established to address, enforce and regulate the challenges in the solid waste management systems in the state. An environmental sanitation programme […]

The desire of the Lagos State Government for a cleaner and more sanitised Lagos under its Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) is being threatened by the approach adopted in implementing the programme.

The CLI was established to address, enforce and regulate the challenges in the solid waste management systems in the state.

An environmental sanitation programme of the Akinwunmi Ambode administration in Lagos, CLI was launched recently by a private entity, VisionScape, contracted to manage the initiative. 

Following the commencement of the implementation of the programme, the state government announced ban on cart pushers and wheel barrow operators claiming the cart pushers constituted a challenge to the implementation of the environmental sanitation initiative.

Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Tunji Bello, said investigation had revealed that the cart pushers were responsible for illegal dumping of waste in canals and road medians at night which caused flooding.

Bello said that aside from constituting environmental nuisance, they also constituted a security threat.

He said the state government had finalised plans to ensure that the CLI covers every area of the state and that refuse was well packed and collected. He urged residents to desist from patronising the banned cart operators or risk prosecution.

The state government has therefore gone further by launching a clampdown on cart operators with many of them already in detention for allegedly dumping refuse on road medians.

Daily Trust, however observed that despite the clampdown, the cart pushers continue to operate in some areas of Lagos, because most of them are unaware of the ban. 

A tour of major streets and roads in Lagos showed that quite a number of refuse bins have been placed at strategic locations for residents to dump their garbage. The complaint has however been that the refuse bins are inadequate even as residents lament that the state is virtually turning into a dirty one with huge heaps of refuse at different locations in many parts of Lagos.

Many residents of Lagos have decried the filth that has taken over most parts of the state, urging the CLI operatives to provide more refuse bins and employ more people for the effectiveness of the project.

But the Scrap and Waste Dealers Association has rejected the ban on cart pushers which they say should not have included them. The scrap dealers under the aegis of National Association of Scrap and Waste Dealers Employers’ Association of Nigeria (NASWADEN) expressed shock by the ban on cart pushers who help them to pick scraps and all forms of recyclable items on the streets. 

Following the ban, the group has called an emergency meeting of the association where it gave a 14- day ultimatum to the government to rescind the decision. 

 The state chairman of the association, Com. Friday Oku, has also written a letter to the governor and copied same to the commissioners for Justice, Environment and Heads of Environment related agencies as well as the House of Assembly Committee on Environment. 

At Agege scrap market, the cart pushers were seen pushing their carts, obviously unaware of the ban. 

 Alhaji Salihu Sani, one of the scrap dealers who is angered by the ban, said it is tantamount to asking non-indigenes to leave the state given that 90 per cent of cart pushers and scrap dealers are strangers.

  Comrade Oku said the scrap dealers support government’s initiative on cleaner Lagos, saying the cart pushers who work for them are different from the general waste collectors. 

“There is difference between cart pushers working for us and the ones collecting refuse. So the implication of this general ban is that many of us would be thrown out of job.

“The steel companies that we supply scraps would also fold up. Let me tell you this is a multi- billion naira industry and banning us would have far-reaching negative effect on the economy of Lagos State because our members are over one million,” the chairman said.

General Secretary of the Federation of Informal Workers’ Organisation of Nigeria (FIWON), Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, said the ban on cart pushers was shocking as it sought to eliminate the scrap dealers and pickers in the state, saying their role is well recognised under the waste management system.

He said, “So it is quite a surprise to learn that they are being banned; the leadership has risen up. Generally, at the level of FIWON, we are bothered by what we see as the relentless attack on the working people in the informal sector in the economy of Lagos State.” 

But Visionscape has assured that all the refuse heaps would soon disappear given its commitment to ridding the state of filth, saying it has committed over $50 million into equipment procurement with over 100 trucks procured.

The CLI assured Lagos residents of timely collection and disposal of the tonnes of domestic solid waste generated daily in the state.

“Visionscape has proven its commitment to developing and implementing advanced processes in solid waste and wastewater management operations by disrupting the market with an innovative approach.

“Their state-of-the-art TLS’s will be a game changer in our sector,” the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Abiodun Bamgboye, said at a recent event.