By Okwy Iroegbu Chikezie

Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Managing Director, Ibrahim Adejuwon Odumboni said they have focused on partnering with strategic agencies in litter control in the state.

He said LAWMA has gone beyond sweeping and dealing with conventional waste or refuse.

“We are in collaborative relationship with other agencies to ensure that waste such as plastic and pet bottles littering not the metropolis, gardens, parks and canals become a thing of the past. We go round all our parks and markets to ensure we control litter and our sweepers cart them away as early as possible to avoid them finding themselves in our drains”.

In an interview with The Nation, he maintained that the prevalence of waste is reducing in the state especially with the resuscitation of the office of Drainage Services in the ministry of Environment and Water Resources.

Currently, we have a ‘Litter Gang’ in LAWMA that ensures that litters don’t end up in our drains with our over 14,000 sweepers that ensure that the state and the drains are cleared of waste and silt in our drainages.

Read Also; LAWMA employs 30,000 in two years

Odumboni also revealed that they constantly clean the primary and secondary channels especially now that the rains are here.

Asked why there is preponderance of filth in markets, he responded that most of the markets with drainages have wire mesh in place to prevent traders and residents from dumping waste into the canals.

Speaking on the novel LAWMA marine waste team, he disclosed that with about 31 major channels in the state, the marine boat daily collect a minimum of 17 tipper load of waste that may have been trapped over the night. It’s a major improvement in what it used to be before this administration this is supported by a decline in volume of waste we are collecting.

On Ladipo electronics market and environs, the LAWMA MD said they have intervened severally in the market and will not give up until they achieve a sustainable way of doing business in a filth free environment.

“We are working with their various associations leaders to find a sustainable way to get rid of dirt and filth from the market sustainably. We have not achieved a complete success but we will not give up. Waste management is a collective responsibility once government provides an enabling environment. We have 4 bins in Ladipo market that is sustaining them so far but we encourage businesses and people who do business around there to patronize the PSP’s.

In days to come we will act like a responsible government, we don’t want to be enforcing the law all the time, we prefer to engage, educate and understudy their challenges before we act.

We educate them and advocate for cleanliness. We prefer them to comply voluntarily. We achieved sanity in Daleko market when we shut them down overnight they employed youths to safeguard their environs ensuring that currently they regulate themselves and keep their environment clean.

“Ladipo has been closed before because of the recalcitrant attitude of some of the traders. We hope that we will not wield that big stick again. If we seal the market now the revenue of the traders and the government will be affected. We advise them to clean up their environment because the cost of paying PSP operators in a year is nothing compared to a day trading loss in that electronics market that is not only serving Lagos but almost all the states of the federation and beyond. Our thinking and belief now is that complete sealing of the market will be a last resort if other means of engaging their leadership fail,” he added.