Lagos wasting time over battle with refuse
The Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) of the Lagos State Government designed to sanitize the waste management system for a cleaner and more environmentally friendly state must have been designed in good faith, but little did the government know that such pol
The CLI is managed by Visionscape, a private foreign environmental entity brought by the state government when the project commenced in 2017. Part of the functions of Visionscape was to streamline and harmonize the waste collection system through the deployment of modern technologies.
But the Private Sector Participant (PSP) operators who have been in charge of the system kicked against the CLI programme which, according to them, seeks to exclude them from the programme of waste management and ultimately deny them their means of livelihood.
They eventually took the state government to court to challenge the decision to exclude them from the waste collection programme. They claimed that such decision would affect thousands of Lagosians who are on the payroll of the over 300 PSP operators.
While the government is yet to settle with the PSP operators, it went ahead to put a ban on cart pushers and roadside refuse collectors operating in the hinterlands of Lagos.
According to the state government, the roadside refuse collectors posed a threat to the Cleaner Lagos Initiative as they disposed their wastes at illegal refuse dumps.
Again, the decision to ban cart pushers also angered other stakeholders in the waste and scrap management sector. Scrap dealers across the state cried out over the general ban on activities of cart pushers who helped them to pick scraps and other metals which were recycled and sold to companies.
The National Association of Scrap and Waste Dealers Association of Nigeria (NASWADEN), the association of scrap and waste dealers in the state, rejected the ban, saying they were not involved in refuse collection but picking of metal objects and scraps.
While the controversy drags on with the PSP operators withdrawing their services, the resultant effect remains the heaps of refuse which have taken over nooks and crannies of the state.
Residents say the new waste managers are obviously overwhelmed with the volume of wastes generated.
With a conservative population of 20 million, the wastes generated in Lagos cannot be quantified. It therefore requires a well- coordinated and adequate management system to handle.
But from all indications, the system adopted by the state government has rather than solve the problem, compounded it.
Residential areas, market places and bridges are currently littered with piles of refuse struggling for space with residents, traders and visitors. At the densely populated Iyana Ipaja bus-stop, many Lagosians were recently seen covering their noses due to the stench emanating from a heap of refuse in the area, especially along the Iyana Ipaja- Agege link fly over bridge. It is similar in places like Mushin, Oshodi, Obalende, among others.
It was however observed that the garbage is giving way gradually in many areas following the relentless work of Visionscape operators even though capturing the entire state has become impossible.
The General Secretary of Federation of Informal Workers Organization of Nigeria (FIWON), Gbenga Komolafe, said the heaps of refuse all over the state would continue to remain with the present model adopted by the government which he described as not sustainable in a state like Lagos.
He said, “The truth is that we are clearly aware of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative which seeks to actually privatize the waste management system in Lagos State. We are