Return to former waste management system driven by LAWMA, PSPs, GEA tells Ambode
Worried by the volume of waste dumps and overall dirtiness of major parts of Lagos State, a group, Green Earth Angels (GEA), has sent an SOS to the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, to return to and sustain former Lagos Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) business model that worked very well for previous administrations in the state. LAWMA worked alongside Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators and Lagos saw their performance then.
They made the call in a statement, saying epidemics may erupt across the state when the poor waste management regime merges with the rising flood threats across the state.
The statement signed by its Executive Director, Akanni Alade, alleged that rather than revert to the model that conquered the once disturbing waste dumpsites that dotted the state, the government had been experimenting and wasting billions of naira on various forms of intervention in its desperate bid to stem the heaps now fast becoming once again the norm.
GEA noted that “Without doubt, Lagos was clean until the government brought in Visionscape under the Cleaner Lagos Initiative. The company started introducing communal dumping by distributing bins across the state without adequate trucks to evacuate the waste. This led to an increase in the volume of waste on our highways and medians.
“This singular act, in no time, destroyed the system that was put in place over the years. The revenue stream was negatively affected as the Visionscape communal dumping initiative encouraged residents to avoid paying their waste bills and dumping of waste instead in bins placed on highways and medians.”
The group
GEA added that by the time when the government realised that the communal dumping arrangement was not working, it had become too late as the people had already imbibed the bad habit of dumping waste in the places the bins were positioned rather than allow a return to the old method of door-to-door collection and paying for the service.
GEA further chided the current ineffective intervention plans carried out by the Lagos Waste Management Authority, saying even with the acquisition of about 70 trucks for it by the government and its decision to further acquire more new trucks for the programme, it was bound to fail as the policy negated the original good intentions of solely making LAWMA a regulator and not an operator.
