Global women’s body invites Lagos waste collectors to Kenya meeting

Informal waste collectors in Lagos under the aegis of the National Association of Scrap and Waste Dealers Employers of Nigeria (NASWADEN) have been invited to a ‘Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO)’ conference holding in Kisumu, Kenya. The state Chairman of NASWADEN, Friday Oku, and a member, Alhaja Taibat Alaka, will be representing […]

Informal waste collectors in Lagos under the aegis of the National Association of Scrap and Waste Dealers Employers of Nigeria (NASWADEN) have been invited to a ‘Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO)’ conference holding in Kisumu, Kenya.

The state Chairman of NASWADEN, Friday Oku, and a member, Alhaja Taibat Alaka, will be representing the body at the Anglophone sub-regional holding meeting holding from March 7 to 9, 2020.

According to the letter of invitation sent to NASWADEN Lagos, the aim of the meeting was to share experiences of national, regional and global threats to waste pickers’ livelihoods.

Topics to be discussed at the conference include “policies that exclude waste pickers or prevent them from accessing recyclable materials, alternative regional and global models where waste pickers are included in formal waste management services, and strategies for collective organizing and building alliances against the common threats that waste pickers face.”

Oku, in a chat with Daily Trust, described the waste and steel business in the country as the largest after the oil business.

According to him, more than 51 million Nigerians were involved in the waste picking business.

“Our business is worth over N1 trillion. We are hugely contributing to the economy of this country. We also engage in poverty reduction,” he said.