The Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has collaborated with various stakeholders, especially community leaders, to end indiscriminate dumping of waste in the state.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of LAWMA, Mr Ibrahim Odumboni, made this known in a statement made available in Lagos on Monday, June 13, 2022.
Odumboni said that the authority had improved on waste policing activities across various communities by strategically positioning personnel on ground to monitor the environment.
“The task of achieving a cleaner and liveable environment is one that requires the involvement of all stakeholders.
“This is why we are working with community leaders to stamp out improper waste disposal, which has exposed our environment and people living in it to various hazards,” Odumboni said.
The LAWMA boss said that the authority’s enforcement team had embarked on a comprehensive statewide campaign.
He said that the campaign was geared to arrest and prosecute those bent on causing environmental degradation in the metropolis.
He said that the authority was out to punish those derailing its efforts toward attaining a sustainable environment in the state.
“Our enforcement team has been made visible across various communities.
“They ensured total compliance with the environment laws of the state, arresting defaulters and the outlawed cart pushers in the process.
“Business facilities known to have contravened the laws are also being sealed off to serve as deterrent to others,” Odumboni said.
The LAWMA boss also charged the Igando-Ikotun Local Council Development Area (LCDA) community on waste policing, for clean and sustainable environment.
He urged residents of the area to imbibe positive attitudinal change toward their surroundings.
He said that community waste policing would create employment opportunities for youths in the council.
The LAWMA boss said that community waste policing would also forestall indiscriminate dumping of waste on road medians and other unauthorised locations, as youths monitored identified black spots across the council area.
“Community waste policing is a sure way to sustain good waste management.
“It is also a means of youth empowerment and revenue generation.
“So, I urge the council lawmakers to examine their by-laws and do the needful,” he said.
Odumboni highlighted the environmental and economic benefits of recycling and waste separation at source, noting that the process would reduce the volume of waste reaching the landfills, while also creating jobs.
He called on residents to cooperate with the Authority by bagging and containerising their waste.
He appealed to Lagos residents to patronise assigned PSP operators, whose job is to evacuate waste generated by tenements.
He said that the task of keeping the environment clean was a collective one.
In a related development, the Kwara Government has warned traders at the Sunday-Sunday market, Kulende/Sango Area of Ilorin, to desist from dumping refuse on the road medians and drainages.
The state Commissioner for Environment, Mrs Remilekun Banigbe, gave the warning on Monday, during a visit to the market in a bid to ensure that the state keeps pace with global environmental standards.
Banigbe made sure that traders were given a marching order to maintain the road setback and adhere strictly to the state environmental laws to avoid being sanctioned.
The commissioner and her team, in company of the General Manager of Kwara Environmental Protection Agency (KWEPA), Alhaji Sa’ad Danmusa, participated in addressing the setback.
Banigbe explained that the effort was to ensure that indiscriminate dumping of refuse did not provoke outbreak of diseases.
She noted that such attitude could result into blockage of drainage and might cause unbearable heavy flood that could put millions of lives and properties in jeopardy.
The commissioner frowned at the traders that display their goods on the roadside, pointing out that such act can make them vulnerable, by exposing them to mechanical and human dangers on the road.
She said that the market layout was structured in a way that could accommodate traders and their goods, advising them to desist from displaying goods on the roadside.
Banigbe reiterated her commitment to ensure that the state conform with global practice through proactive measures put in place to change the lackadaisical attitude of the people towards a clean environment.
“The Ministry will not condone any form of misbehaviour from defiant traders that may mar the efforts of government in sustaining its position in the world map.
“I employ the traders to make effective use of the waste disposal bins available in the market as effective use of the bins will pave multitude of ways for a sane market environment,” she said.
By Fabian Ekeruche and Mujidat Oyewole
