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The Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWAMN) has called for an enabling environment for its members to deliver efficient and effective waste management in the state.
President of AWAMN, Olugbenga Adebola, stated this during an interview, saying that effective and efficient waste management requires the commitment and collaboration of government and the Private Sector Participants (PSPs) operators.
He stressed the need for both parties to collaborate to chat a course of addressing the challenges in the waste management value chain.
“Having an effective and efficient waste management system operating in Lagos State goes beyond just the purchase of trucks for the PSP owners on the lease to own.
“Around Oct 2023, we did a comprehensive letter to the government, identifying some of the problems militating against effective and efficient waste management in the state,” he said.
He noted that enabling environment begins with the agreement, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and the PSPs.
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“If I am investing huge sums of money, how long will it take me to recoup the money with reasonable profit and then pay back such a loan.
“What mechanism is in place that ensures every waste generator actually pays for waste disposal and where it is known that this is the lowest of the lowest of the economy, then the government must come in.
“What agreement was given to Vision Scape Services (VSS)?” Adebola said.
He expressed gratitude to the Lagos State government, through the Lagos Waste Management Authority, for committing to the provision of compactor trucks to PSPs on the lease-to-own model.
“We would like to thank the LASG, the Managing Director of LAWMA, who has graciously announced to the whole world that they are buying compacting trucks on the lease to own for PSP operators.
“I think it is a good gesture. However, I want to say, regrettably, that this is not the only solution to effective and efficient waste management, perhaps, 10 to 15 per cent. As professionals, ours is to identify some of these problems and perhaps find solution,” Adebola said.
