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.
Mr. Olugbenga Adebola, President of AWAMN, who made the call in an interview on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Lagos, said effective and efficient waste management require the commitment and collaboration of government and the Private Sector Participants (PSPs) operators.
He added that the duo should sit down and chart a course to remove the challenges in the waste management value chain.
Adebola commended the Lagos State Government (LASG), through the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), for committing to the provision of compactor trucks to PSPs on the lease to own model.
“We would like to thank the LASG and the Managing Director of LAWMA who has graciously announced to the whole world that they are buying compacting trucks on the lease 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.
“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.
As professionals, ours is to identify some of these problems and perhaps find solution,” Adebola said.
He noted that the association in November 2024 wrote another letter reminding them that the issues were still not resolved.
We explained to the government that if we are able to attend to some of the raised issues, we would have made some progress.
“Here we are with the narrative of trucks for lease, we don’t know what make the would-be trucks are made of.
“The current truck that is being used by LAWMA, which were purchased from Sino trucks, we co-designed the truck to tell them the size of the engine, because of the diesel we have in Nigeria.
“While the whole world is using Euro 10, Euro 12 and Euro 13, in Nigeria, we can’t use that, and we sat down with the manufacturers to tell them the kind of diesel engine we can use in Nigeria.
“We told them how low bed it could be, why they can also build a back for the attendants to sit; so we solved the problem of hanging at the back of the truck. These are the things we did with the previous truck.
“We should really be part of this new arrangement, more so, since these trucks are coming on a lease, which means that you own by paying, it is not a free of charge thing.
“If we are going to pay for it, the operators need to be involved to be able to have something that would suit us.
“How long lasting, how sustaining are those trucks, are they CNG trucks, are they trucks that are going to run on diesel, what chassis are they made of?
“We don’t know all of these; so we are reading it on the pages of newspapers,” Adebola said.
According to him, the trucks are not the solution to the challenges in the sector.
“If you are getting a lease to own truck, what mechanism is in place to ensure that you also have an effective and total cost recovery?
“How are you able to recoup and recover savings to be able to pay for the truck, otherwise it would turn into a bad debt.
“With the current charges that is prevalent in the state, I am afraid, you cannot break even,” Adebola said.
He noted that enabling environment would begin with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and the PSPs.
“If am investing huge sum of money, how long will it take me to recoup such 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 government must come in.
“Right now, a lot of operators who went to bank and got loan of 27 to 33 per cent cannot repay back, and this is not the type of funding that can support effective and efficient waste management.
“You need green funding, some will be grant, some will be single digit interest loan, but above all, it must be long term.
“If you go outside the country, people that are into this type of business are getting loan at three, four or five per cent interest and sometimes the tenure is over 20 years.
“You cannot go to a commercial bank in Nigeria and get such a loan,” Adebola said.
He added that waste managers are essential service providers, stressing the need for a special funding either from the state or from the Federal Government.
By Fabian Ekeruche