In this chat, LAWMA Boss, Olamuyiwa Adejokun, points out some of the reasons it might seem like the refuse is back, and the measures his agency is taking to stay on top of the situation.
Knowing that waste management is the collective responsibility of all, citizens and government alike; how do you think Lagosians can help in keeping Lagos clean?
Waste management starts from each tenement. Those who generate wastes most are the babies. They generate both solid and liquid wastes. This tells you that every human being created by God generates waste. When waste is generated, in an ideal situation, sorting should immediately take place. What do I mean by sorting? If you use plastic for instance, separate it from nylons, food particles, water. If we sort our wastes from the grassroots, it will be easier to manage them. However, in Nigeria presently, not just in Lagos, whatever we use, be it paper or liquid, we dump everything in one place. Sorting is therefore the biggest problem we have.
Heaps of rubbish remain prominent on our roads and highways, despite the presence of highway cleaners and waste collectors at work; what do you have to say about this?
October to like the middle of February is the peak of waste collection in Lagos. Why? Because of the Christmas and New Year festivities. Let me at this juncture give you one historical background disturbing Nigeria today. Every part of this country, all the 36 states of the country, everybody from other states come to Lagos. I’ll tell you why. Go to the North-east, what’s happening there? Boko Haram attacks which have spread to the North-west, and so nobody wants to stay there because nobody wants to die; they have all run to Lagos. In the East and South-south, there is the problem of kidnapping, nobody wants to stay there. If you go to the North-central, Kwara, Kogi, part of Boko Haram has entered there too… The only safe place in Nigeria is Lagos. Every nationality in the whole world, mark my words, the whole world, comes to Lagos: Japanese, Chinese, Indians, etc. When they land in Abuja today, the next day, they say they want to come to Lagos. Every individual created by God who comes to Lagos generates waste, and as such, they are our responsibility.
Again, there is the problem of culture. My first son lives in Texas. I didn’t even know I will be involved in waste management here when I visited him. We were driving along one day, he brought out a chewing gum, unwrapped it, put it in his mouth, neatly folded the wrapper and put it in his pocket. When he did that, I took quiet notice. After a while, when we got to the entrance of a shopping mall, where there was a waste bin, my son removed the wrapper he had earlier put in his pocket, brought out the chewing gum from his mouth and wrapped it in the wrapper before throwing it into a trash can. I didn’t say anything to him until we got back in the car: “Seyi, what did you do?” He laughed and said, “If I’m caught throwing that just anywhere, I will regret putting paper on the ground.” But in Nigeria, it is our culture to throw paper on the ground.
As I said earlier, this period, we have lots of celebration. I had a party on the 1st of January, 2nd of January, there was a street jam on my street. I wish you were there. The only mistake I made was that I didn’t take a picture, because it is something you’re used to is not new to you. The heaps of dirt we gathered, you won’t believe it. But it didn’t take us time to gather it. The area where waste is mostly generated in this Lagos is the central business district, Apongbon, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Idumota. Initially, when I saw the heap of refuse, I wondered if we could clear it up. But the controller in charge asked me to wait and see what would happen in the next one to two hours. Behold, I didn’t see anything after about one to two hours.
Let me also tell you one thing about myself, I know the island very well. I move on the streets at night. On a particular night, I witnessed my workers clear the wastes in the area, but by the time I passed by the place at about 6 am, you won’t believe what I saw. If I hadn’t been part of the collection and movement of that waste, I wouldn’t have believed that waste was cleared from that spot just in the wee hours of that same morning. You wonder how that happen? It’s short of saying ghosts came there in the night to dump the wastes there. This tells you one thing, waste collection is an extremely continuous exercise, because as you’re clearing, they’re dumping. When you have a problem, you must proffer solutions. What’s the solution? Very simple. Continuously we must pick. We will not say because we’ve picked at 6am, we won’t pick at 7. So, what has LAWMA done? We have what we call intervention teams. They are so called because they are not restricted to one particular place. Once there is excess waste in any area, say, Apapa, we send the team there. And what is most important about waste management is the monitoring. Since I assumed duty here, I do my own personal monitoring. I have my own team that I work with. I monitor things myself because I don’t just want to be told. I also use PSP people…
Whats your relationship with PSP Operators?
Very cordial. Government operation is different from private sector operations. In governement, we don’t just take money, we make request that can cause delay in payment, but that is no excuse not to work. When I assumed duties, LAWMA was owing, but by the Grace of God and by God’s intervention, I spoke with his Excellency, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. I pleaded with him and by the grace of God we payed everybody. We’re not owing anybody as of now, except maybe for December. All this we are doing is to gain control. If I’m owing you for instance, I’ll be speaking with you from a disadvantaged position. If I’m not owing you, I’ll speak to you as your boss (authoritatively).
There is one thing I’d love to bring in at this juncture which is very paramount. It has to do with dignity of labour. Sweeping the streets is something we must be proud of doing. Don’t you sweep your house? If you do, what is the big deal about sweeping the street? There’s another one I know you’ve not thought of. People do come and interview me and they don’t think of it. Has government been able to generate income from dump sites? Even those who are into waste management; people don’t know about it. It’s called recyling. If you get to Olusosun landfill (the Lagos state 100-acre dump site, which is said to receive up to 10,000 tons of rubbish each day) now, you’ll find scavengers scavenging, and big lorries will come and cart away everything that has been scavenged for recyling. It is giving me concern…
Isn’t the state involved in recyling?
I didn’t say that. The state is, but the state is just coming up. LAWMA is supposed to be a regulatory body. We’ll get there one day. But at the moment, we’re involved. The wife of Kola Abiola (son of late M.K.O Abiola) had a recycling outfit at Olokodana Abiola here. We gave her one of our PSP trucks to support her. They are recycling. Scavengers are supposed to pay for wastes they scavenge. Because as it were, LAWMA has collected these wastes from the public, and they belong to us. If you want to take the wastes, then you should pay us some money. We are yet to get there. We’ll get there….
What do you think the government can do to make the people get involved in waste management, considering that it’s not the responsibility of the government alone?
Very simple. We are doing advocacy. If you have listened to some of the radio stations, you’ll hear LAWMA jingles. We even have advocacy buses that go around town talking to people about disposing their wastes properly. Even in the dailies, advocacy is going on. A lot of advocacy and reorientation is going on. Where I stay on the island, they have given me a name, “Onile gba ile-kole kole” of Lagos meaning ‘the one who clears the refuse of Lagos. If you’re sitting with me and for one reason or the other you throw a piece of paper on the floor, you will be sanctioned.
That is one, the second one is something I’m working on. If you’re telling people not to urinate on the streets, where are the toilets?
How can the LAWMA help PSP operators who bitterly complain of residents refusing to pay?
One day, I was talking to one of my friends; he told me that for more than 30 years he hasn’t paid even one month electricity bill and he’s been using power all along. There’s something we’re working on to tackle the problem of people not paying PSP bills. In Abuja, what we use to embarrass people who refuse to pay their bills are mobile courts. This court sits in front of your residence and announces your name, your house number and how much you owe. After this, they fine you. Now, it’s not the fine that matters, but the embarrassment of announcing your name to the hearing of all and the conviction of an offense. Mind you, no conviction is too small. We are working on it. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Lagos didn’t get to this point over night. At one time the population of Lagos was about two million, but presently, it is about 26 million, and it’s not going to stop at that, it will keep increasing.
What are you doing about cart-pushers, seeing that their activities are counter-productive?
They create more problems by dumping refuse in canals. The people who patronise them will be tried by the mobile courts as well. Ultimately, we’ll eradicate truck pushers. The problem Nigerians have which has put us where we are today is either limited information or no information at all. And we are also very impatient. No change comes easy. People are accusing Buhari of being too slow, but when you talk of change, it’s something that comes with a great price and it takes time.
