The Nation Newspaper

Tag: LAWMA

  • LAWMA official held for ‘stealing’ street light cable

    LAWMA official held for ‘stealing’ street light cable

    Rapid Response Squad (RRS) operatives have arrested a member of a two-man syndicate which specialised in vandalising and stealing street light power cable.

    The suspect, Ibrahim Alli, 29, who claims he works with Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), was caught by a RRS patrol team last Friday at Opebi, Ikeja, Lagos.

    His accomplice, Yunusa fled.

    Police spokesman Joe Offor, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), who confirmed the arrest, said: “The policemen who were on routine patrol in the area, sighted the two men while in the act of vandalising the street light power cable, which had left the entire community in blackout. As the policemen were approaching, the two of them took to their heels, and immediately the operatives made a hot chase while one of the suspects was apprehended, the second suspect escaped.

    “The suspect  from his statement  said he and his colleague were in the habit of vandalising and stealing the power cable which always has adverse effect on the entire community by letting the area in total blackout on several times.”

    The suspect, who claims to be a native of Yola Local Government in Adamawa State, gave reason for his action, stating:

    “I am a staff of Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) at Onipanu, but I was not contented with my meagre salary. And my friend, Yunusa, introduced this act of robbery to me. On the midnight, I and Yunusa went to Opebi in Lagos to steal street light cable. While I was arrested, Yunusa, who is my leader, escaped. It is him, Yunusa, who used to sell the cable and I don’t know the receiver. I only assist him in vandalising the cables. He only gives me N1,000 or N1,500 after the sales”, he said in his confessional statement to the Police.

    Police said the suspected has been charged to court.

    The exhibits recovered from him include vandalised electrical cable, shovel, LAWMA Identity Card bearing his name and one wristwatch.

  • We destroy 400 carts daily, says LAWMA chief

    No fewer than 400 refuse carts are destroyed daily by the Lagos Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) Police, in its bid to rid the Centre of Excellence of the menace of cart pushers, the acting Managing Director of the agency Abdulwahab Ogunbiyi has said.

    Ogunbiyi who disclosed this at a stakeholders’ forum held at the Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government Area office to appraise the effectiveness of LAWMA’s Private Sector Participant (PSP) operators in waste disposal at the council, said many of the cart pushers have been convicted and languishing at KiriKiri Prisons for defacing the state.

    He said many of cart pushers were caught discharging refuse into the drainage, thereby blocking the flow of waters.

    This, he said, has led to flooding, which threatens lives and property in the state.

    He told the forum, attended by leaders of all the council’s Community Development Associations (CDAs), traders and other residents to stop patronising cart pushers and embrace the PSP operators.

    Ogunbiyi, who was represented by the Deputy Director of Environmental Services, Ade Mustapha, said though the services were initially rendered free by the government, it is saddening that many are yet to come to terms with the need to pay for their waste disposal.

    He said the debt profile of the operators has become so alarming that the agency may be left with no choice than to evoke the provisions of its laws which empowers it to seal any premises defaulting in the payment of waste disposal bills.

    He said: “We are compelled to come to you to inform you that come September, we may have to invoke the provisions of our laws and seal any premises where we have defaulters who have refused to pay for the disposal of their waste.

    We have no doubt that you would help us disseminate this information to all other residents who are not opportune to be at this forum, that they should pay up or risk having their houses locked up.”

    He said that LAWMA  would not hesitate to punish erring ones or have their service terminated.

    The executive Secretary of the council, Olurotimi Adeleye, said the people’s refusal to pay the refuse collectors remained the only way to express their protest for the shoddy services rendered by some of the operators.

    He urged the operators to improve their services and ensure adequate coverage of their allotted areas, saying that nobody would love to pay for services that are not rendered.

    Adeleye, by his deputy Wahab Kareem called for the establishment of a complaint desk in their respective offices where issues concerning all their customers would be addressed, adding that issue such as crazy bills or non deductions of bills already paid are also some noticed drawbacks that would require prompt attention if the operators want better cooperation with residents of the council.

  • LAWMA begins streets washing

    The Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) on Wednesday said it had added street washing in some highbrow areas to preserve investments on some new roads in the state.

    Mr. Ola Oresanya, the General Manager of the authority, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

    According to him, the authority has ten mechanical sweeping machines which sweep, wash and scrub roads in the night.

    “We have commenced streets washing. We are washing some streets right now.

    “We are not just sweeping, we are also washing. We wash the road after sweeping, then in the night we scrub with the kerb and the road itself.

    “We have about ten mechanical sweepers and they work over night.

    “We started at Lagos Secretariat, then Awolowo, Ikoyi, we have Kingsway road and Boudelon and other streets in high brow areas for now.

    “Just to make sure that where we have new roads, they are preserved.

    “It is all in our plan to see how we preserve our investments (roads), the public funds taxes that were used to make those roads.

    “Those roads are made to last nothing less than 30 years and we must make sure they are really preserved”.

    The general manager also disclosed that, under the second ten year rolling plan, the authority planned to boost the economics of waste management.

    He further added that the authority would expand its scope by having Material Recovery Facility.

    According to him, the project is aimed at processing waste for domestic usage and for export.

    He said majority of the waste would be exported to Asian countries where the waste could be converted.

  • Training for LAWMA, UNCRD-IPLA

    Training for LAWMA, UNCRD-IPLA

    The Lagos Waste Management Authourity (LAWMA) and the United Nations Centre for Regional Development and International Partnership for expanding waste management services of Local Authorities (UNCRD-IPLA) are holding a training in waste management.

    The event, slated for Thursday, will take place at Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Conference and Exhibition Centre, Ikeja.

    LAWMA Managing Director, Mr. Ola Oresanya, said the increase in waste generation combined with complex/emerging waste streams arising from growing industrialisation as well as changing consumption patterns, which pose inherent implications for climate change, among other environmental issues, have necessitated current global trends in adopting a multi-level collaborative approach, as well as empower stakeholders at municipal level towards appropriate technological choice and intervention.

    The LAWMA boss noted that recognising the need for guided research, knowledge and capacity building in achieving the above, LAWMA being the west Africa secretariat for the UNCRD-IPLA is organising the interactive multi-stakeholders forum as a viable platform to promote Acedemia-industry-Government collaboration towards sustainable integrated waste management technologies in the country.

  • Oshodi Waste Transfer Loading Station on fire

    Oshodi Waste Transfer Loading Station on fire

    The Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) head office went up in flames last night.

    According to The National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) spokesman for Southwest, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye,  the fire started around 6pm.

     He said there was no casualty and no one was trapped, adding that from information available to him, the inferno started from the technical unit of LAWMA.

    An employee of the agency who refused to disclose his name said the fire went out of control while they were burning some waste and was made worse when it came in contact with waste tires.

    The combined efforts of NEMA and Lagos State Fire Service did little to contain the fire that was still raging at about 8.20 pm. Two of their trucks were noticed leaving the burning building, driving away empty.

  • ‘Our coaches are filthy’

    ‘Our coaches are filthy’

    Encounter with a veteran rail traveler

    FOLASHADE, who is in her 50s, refuses to give her real name, but volunteered that she works with the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) and lives in Ijoko. She is very comfortable with the train and says she actually rented an apartment in Ijoko because of its accessibility by rail. Aside from being a regular commuter on the urban mass shuttle, Folashade also said she normally travels by rail anytime she is visiting her relatives up north.

    She quickly countered a younger man who had suggested that it normally takes up to seven days to get to Kano by rail. “That’s not true”, she said visibly irked by the gentleman’s false declaration. “Are you sure you’ve travelled by rail to Kano before? It takes about two days maximum,” she says emphatically.

    She declares that she normally travels first class anytime she going on long distance, citing passengers’ unhygienic habits and her desire for neatness, privacy and comfort. “The first class is usually like you are in your house. You have your own compartment, with beds for you and your family and functional toilets and running water. You can also wash and change your clothes if you wish.”

    She, however, confessed that she hasn’t done long distance in the last four years and, therefore, cannot tell if the standard has dropped, improved or stagnated.

    “The only problem is that your legs get swollen because you would have been confined to a little space for upward of two days. Of course, if it breaks down in the middle of nowhere, then you might end up spending more days. But that’s beside the point.”

    According to her, she travels with prepared meals, although food and drinks are sold on board, since there is a restaurant and bar on the train. She once fell into the hands fellow passengers who were thieves.

     

    United Kingdom train experience

    “If you have travelled to countries like the United Kingdom and the USA, and commuted by their rail system, then you will know that there is a world of difference between us in terms of standards. Their rails are mostly underground and overhead and the standard is as high as what obtains in a plane. They usually have as many as six tracks, with the trains shuttling alongside each other, thereby banishing the problem of delayed schedules and over-crowding. Besides, there are no problems of insufficient coaches, dilapidated coaches or filthy coaches like we have here. And this is why they all prefer to travel by rail, even the very wealthy ones amongst them. It is cheap, fast, comfortable and neat.”

    She tells of how her she made her son who lives in the UK to take a ride on the train with her on one of his visits home from Ijoko to Lagos. “I deliberately wanted him to experience what we go through in the name of train system in Lagos. In no time he was covered in sweat. To make matters worst, I also bought him sausages and a bottle of soft drink. Of course he could not eat it. He said the train was too filthy.

    “But this is the same gentleman who commutes to and from work daily by train in UK. The system available here is so deplorable. Our children who live abroad can’t even come home because they’re not sure they can fit in anymore,” she concludes.

  • NBC donates tricycles to group

    The Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Limited has restated its commitment to protecting the environment by supporting Wecyclers Nigeria Limited, a group that seeks to solve the urban waste challenge by using a fleet of low-cost cargo bicycles to offer convenient household collection of wastes.

    To expand its collection capacity, the company has donated eight tricycles, known as Wecycles, to the group.

    Speaking at the handover, which took place at the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) yard in Ebute-Metta, Head, Public Affairs and Communication, NBC, Mrs. Adeyanju Olomola, said the company was delighted to support Wecycler’s drive on waste collection in Lagos State.

    Olomola added that NBC’s sponsorship and participation in recycling is borne out of an active commitment of the company to packaging waste recovery and recycling, one of its seven sustainability pillars, noting that the deal with Wecyclers, represents a community-led initiative.

    She  emphasised that NBC was not only concerned with refreshing consumers with a wide range of products, but is also interested in working in partnerships to minimise the impact of packaging on the environment.

     

  • MDAs stall passage of Lagos 2014 bill

    The passage of the Lagos State 2014 budget was stalled yesterday on the floor of the House of Assembly by the failure of 10 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to provide the Committee on Budget and Appropriation with required documents.

    The MDAs are Eko Project, Lagos State Building and Construction Agency (LABCA), Ministry of Housing, Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA), Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, Ministry of Transportation, Lagos State Metropolitan Development Agency (LMDA), Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) and the Lottery Board.

    Majority of the lawmakers condemned the MDAs’ attitude.

    The Chief Whip, Abdulrazaq Balogun, said the MDAss “deliberately refused” to supply the necessary documents and should be compelled to do so.

    The Deputy Whip, Rotimi Abiru, said the House cannot go on recess without passing the budget, insisting that the documents would have to be submitted.

    Mr. Ipoola Omisore (Ifako-Ijaiye II) said: “It is the desire of the House to pass the money bill before the end of the year. It is not right for any MDA to hold us back.”

    The House, led by the Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, ordered the MDAs to present the documents to the committee on Thursday, January 2.

  • LAWMA seals deal with Alkem

    LAWMA seals deal with Alkem

    Desirous to improve the state of cleanliness and awareness creation on recycling and waste-sorting in the state, the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Alkem Nigeria Limited, a household name in PET bottles recycling.

    Disclosing this at the headquarters of the authority at Ijora Olopa, venue of the event, the Managing Director of LAWMA, Mr. Ola Oresanya, said that the MoU signing signifies the formalisation of partnership between the Authority and Alkem.

    According to the terms of the agreement, the partnership entails the establishment, operation and maintenance of a PET Bottle Collection and Baling Centre at Olusosun Recycling Village by Alkem Nigeria Limited.

    After putting pen to paper on the bilateral agreement, the Managing Director of Alkem, Mr. Ravi Chanrai, was full of words of appreciation for the opportunity to formalise the company’s relationship with LAWMA in the business of effective waste collection in the state.

    Chanrai commended the Authority for its accomplishments in ridding Lagos of wastes, which are detrimental to human health; and added that the partnership will have a positive impact on the Authority’s ongoing campaign to sanitise the state of used PET bottles.

    Considering the space required to contain the over 10,000 cubic metre of waste generated daily in Lagos and the inelasticity of the landfill sites, it would be recalled that the Authority commenced the recycling initiative in the state by creating awareness, encouraging participation and discounting the amount paid for the evacuation of sorted wastes.

    LAWMA has been able to achieve its set goals on recycling through the establishment of the Nylon Buyback programme, Recycling banks, the compost facility in Ikorodu (in collaboration with Earthcare), collection of PET, aluminum cans, cardboard and other materials, etc. There has also been the active engagement through school advocacy and summer holiday programmes on recycling to inculcate the right eco-friendly habits into children.

  • GEMS, LAWMA liaise on C & D waste control

    A construction cum real estate company, Growth and Employment in States (GEMS), has liaised with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) on a policy framework for construction and demolition debris waste for Lagos State.

    The policy framework according to Thomas Robert, an international CDWM policy consultant, entails policies on how to recycle and reuse construction and demolition waste in order to protect human health and prevent ecological hazards.

    He added that it also include C &D prohibition disposal, source separation minimum requirements, permission of demolition, deconstruction of requirements, demolition requirements, C & D facilities, public awareness on penalties for non-compliance and illegal disposal of C & D among others.

    Roberts said the policy provides the basis for the development of laws and regulations to guide proper construction and demolition waste disposal.

    He noted that in implementing the policy, LAWMA, private sectors, states and federal government has a key role to play in it. He added that the process of source separation and recycling will go a long way in increasing employment opportunities.

     

    The Managing Director of LAWMA, Mr. Ola Oresanya, while acknowledging the policy noted that the primary focus should be on reuse for the optical and market development for products and not recycling.