AMBODE’S CLEANER LAGOS INITIATIVE
Taiwo Ogundipe writes that the initiative is aimed at securing the health of Lagosians
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is not letting up in dishing out from time to time new ideas, innovations and projects since he assumed the mantle of leadership in Lagos. One of his latest is the Cleaner Lagos Initiative. He has done this through a review of the state’s environmental law. The legal instrument tagged Environmental Management and Protection Bill was signed into law by the governor on March 1, 2017. The governor commended the state House of Assembly for sinking their differences in the overall interest of the state to align and pass the bill.
After appending his signature, the governor expressed optimism that the law would go a long way in securing the public health safety of residents, especially children. Ambode during the signing ceremony recalled how his administration, in its early days, decided to overhaul the state’s environmental, waste management and handling practices and also to harmonise all existing environmental laws.
The governor stated the old sanitation law, as bequeathed to his administration, needed to be reworked in line with Lagos’ mega city status. According to him, since the provisions of the inherited environmental laws were outdated and no longer applicable to modern-day realities, the government swung into action and came up with a model that would have sanitation as its centre piece.
In the governor’s words: “It was necessary to make investor-friendly laws that attract the type of capital we need to advance our development agenda and achieve our sustainability goals. We believe it is worth the risk involved in changing the legislative framework if the reward is a healthier and cleaner Lagos for our children – our future.”
The governor also described the initiative as a creative solution to the seemingly intractable refuse problem confronting the state.
Ambode also went personal in explaining the driving force behind the initiative: “Cleaner Lagos Initiative is borne out of my experience as a Lagosian. I have lived in Lagos for over 50 years. When you are coming into Lagos from Ibadan, the first thing you see on the right side is the dump site. Should I sit and continue to watch? The answer is no. “Even for imagination sake, that thing can work; all I need is players and team members. The city is very dirty. It is not healthy and so our total wellbeing and health is defined by our health status and our productivity.
“I think by now people should know that I am a dreamer and I want the people to dream along with me. This is like a vision. I have been given the opportunity to process something and improve on it and I don’t want to misuse it.”
The law, when operational, will drive the adoption of innovative technology to tackle existing environmental problems in the state. Under the new dispensation, the commercial sector would be serviced by licensed waste managers.
A consortium of environmental service providers, among them some globally-acclaimed waste manage- ment companies, will provide waste collection, processing and disposal services for residential property under a long-term concession arrangement.
The consortium will be expected to deploy a large multi-dimensional fleet of over 20 landfill and Transfer Loading Station (TLS) management vehicles, 590 rear-end loader compactors, 140 operational vehicles and about electronically-tracked 900,000-litre bins that would be monitored by Public Utilities Monitoring Assurance Unit (PUMAU) of the Environment Ministry.
The new initiative has generated a lot of apprehension among PSP operators who believe they will be run out of business in the face of the new development. The governor, showing empathy, addressed this fear. He stated: “We will make their business bankable and then push them to commercial refuse. So, they can go to companies around and collect their money directly.
“With that, the PSP operators that really do not have enough capital will be able to employ more people and be bankable. They can go to the bank and say ‘I have this quantum of business every month so, give me a particular amount to buy new equipment.”
The governor insisted that the initiative would give equal attention to all parts of Lagos State from Ikoyi to Ayobo, adding that the consortium “will divide refuse collection into layers and make the existing PSP operators bankable to carry out the job of commercial refuse collection while the consortium tackles collection of domestic refuse across the state.”
Ambode said under the initiative, the people would need to pay their public utility levy once in a year and their refuse would be collected every day, adding “the template we are using is that every ward will employ 100 street sweepers which translates to 27,500 people that will be kitted the same way all over the state. Lagos State will invest in equipment just like in London and have a zero tolerance for dirt on our streets.”
The governor also pointed out that “It was necessary to make investor-friendly laws that attract the type of capital we need to advance our development agenda and achieve our sustainability goals. We believe it is worth the risk involved in changing the legislative framework if the reward is a healthier and cleaner Lagos for our children – our future.”
Governor Ambode also added that aside the fact that the initiative would create at least 27,500 jobs, the Community Sanitation Workers (CSW) who would be engaged will receive several incentives including tax reliefs and healthcare, life, injury and accident insurance benefits all aimed at tackling the issue of poverty and the chronic unemployment crisis.
“Everyone from the cart pushers to the existing PSPs and casual workers at the dumpsites have been considered in the plan and will be accommodated within the new environmental regime. In addition, we are extending opportunities to everyone along the value chain by working to create vocational training in the related areas through LASTVEB,” he said.