Lagos – The Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) said on Friday that it would improve on the logistics to tackle refuse disposal in the state.
The authority’s Managing Director, Mr Abdulwahab Ogunbiyi, made the promise in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He made the promise in reaction to some allegations that LAWMA was responsible for Mushin and Surulere Local Governments deplorable environment.
The allegations were made by the Refrigerators and Air-Conditioners Dealers Association (RADA), some residents of the two local governments and PSP operators servicing the areas.
RADA lamented that the refuse problem started when the PSP operators who stopped coming to pick up refuse due to bad roads.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
The President of RADA, Mr Charles Anyora, said that residents who were not paying their waste bills took advantage of the absence of the PSP and started dropping refuse at street corners at night and early morning.
He said that when the problem overwhelmed the PSP operators, the association complained to LAWMA but that it had not done anything about it.
Anyora alleged that some LAWMA officials sent to monitor the area were even encouraging people to drop refuse indiscriminately instead of preventing it.
One of the PSP operators, Mr Aloy Udeson, also said that his men were being harassed and beaten while trying to clear refuse in the area.
He said that he needed LAWMA to provide security to ensure safety of his men while on duty.
Udeson also said that majority of the residents were defaulting in settling their waste bills and that enforcement by LAWMA was necessary to ensure compliance.
According to him, the authority owes PSP operators huge debts which resulted in the laying off some workers.
He added that many PSP were also finding it difficult to maintain their operational trucks that frequently broke down.
But the LAWMA director said that refuse collection and disposal challenge was not just being experienced in Mushin and Surulere Local Governments alone but all over the state.
“The authority is putting logistics in place to tackle the situation headlong.
“On the issue of non-payment of waste bills, he said enforcement is needed for some people to comply and we are working on how to drive it.
“We know that some PSP operators have not been paid for some time now.
“The delay in making the payments was because of the challenges that accompanied the changes in government and LAWMA management.
“There is also the problem of general economic downturn being experienced in the country,’’ he told NAN.
Ogunbiyi pledged that whatever amount the authority owed the waste managers would definitely be paid.
He noted that the authority understood the pains the operators were going through in their efforts to clear Lagos streets of refuse.
The managing director appealed to the operators to be patient with the new LAWMA management to settle down, assuring them that “all the outstanding debts will be paid’’. (NAN)
