Stakeholders mull orientation with communities, operators, professionals as panacea to boost waste management in Lagos

Stakeholders in the environmental ecosystem have applauded the Lagos State government in its commitment in the management of waste in the, noting that there is need for orientation, sensitization for behavioural change with individuals and communities, engagement of private sectors as well as professionals in order to bolster the trajectory of waste management in the State.

These were the crux of the discourse during a panel session at the just concluded the Annual Lecture and Awards of the Property & Environment Writers Association of Nigeria (PEWAN) on one of the themes: “The Place of Waste Management in Relation to the Lagos State Government’s THEMES+ Agenda”, with the sub-theme: Air Quality Management in A Megacity Like Lagos, Challenges and Policy Framework and another sub-theme: “Sustainability in Modern Housing and Urban Development”.

Michael Ohioze Simire, Urban planner, environmentalist and science journalist, moderated the panel session which include: Mr Ayo Adejumo, Past Chairman of Lagos State Chapter of Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Sir Godwin Alenkhe, National President Estate Rent and Commission Agents Association of Nigeria, (ERCAAN) and Victoria Uwadoka, Public Affairs and Sustainability Lead at Nestle Nigeria Plc.

Mr Ayo Adejumo, Past Chairman of Lagos State Chapter of Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) speaking on the current state of waste management in Lagos State, noted that Lagos State when compared to other States in the Federation has been doing so much as regards waste management.

Adejumo stated that the state government doing all these through the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Lagos Environmental protection Agency (LASEPA) and other Agencies can still do more.

He opined that the biggest challenge of waste management in Lagos is about the people, adding that if there is education and sensitization there can be a change to solve the problem of waste management in Lagos.

According to him, there is the low and the high in all these because when the government put in place policies, we the human beings would want to make the policies to suit ourselves and that is why there has not been good results to show for the policies put in place for waste management.

“So, it is a problem with our people. Once we can re-orientate ourselves then the generation of waste and the management of waste generation will be solved,” he added.

Victoria Uwadoka, Public Affairs and Sustainability Lead at Nestle Nigeria Plc, while reacting on government regulation, and how Lagos balances private sector participation and public interest in waste management, highlighted that awareness is one of the challenges that needs to be balanced vis-a-vis the availability of infrastructure.

Uwadoka explained that it is not just the generator of waste but also the people that are responsible for the collection of the waste as well.

“I live in an Estate and I got all my neighbours to start segregating their waste within their home. I have a separate bin for my plastics and a separate bin for bio-waste. At the end when LAWMA comes in they pick up the plastics and bio-waste and put the same in their truck,” she said.

She stated that there is a need to engage with the waste collectors in the form of training and retraining who are very important for the people to be doing the right thing.

She avowed that we also have the right policies and right objectives, but we just need the will to implement it.

“It is a journey. We have built a system that has brought us to where we are, so what the government needs to do is to keep working on the talk and education,” she said.

Speaking on private sector participation and public interest in waste management, Uwadoka disclosed that they now have an alliance of Food and Beverages in the industry that will make them manage the plastics from the factory to the end users.

“We have this alliance that enables us to work together to resolve the challenges that we have in this environment whether in collection, in management, information, education and awareness.

“We want Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Lagos Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) and the ministry of Environment to help us to drive the process that we are working on. Only the Food and Beverages Alliance cannot do it,” she stressed.

According to her, there are the communities that have to be reached so we have to find a creative way of reaching the communities to create awareness, identify these areas that need interventions, so we need every stakeholder in leveraging the ecosystem that we have both in the private and public sector.

Sir Godwin Alenkhe, National President Estate Rent and Commission Agents Association of Nigeria, (ERCAAN) in his submission on waste disposal indiscriminately and how communities can be more involved in managing their waste sustainability, raised a germane puzzle that the problem of waste management in Lagos is something that the solution is before us.

Alenkhe highlighted that when Lagos was a cleaner Lagos, safety and environmental bins were in place, but today what we have in Lagos is geared towards revenue generation because these agencies have been given some kind of target.

“LAWMA was an agency to which when people dumped their refuse before you know it, it was taken off. Because it has been turned into a revenue generation thing, it has now become very difficult to control the refuse that people are generating. The reason is that the Public, Private Partnership which could have been the solution is not even helping matters in Lagos State. The politicians are controlling what could have been an efficient Public, Private, Partnership as each day the professionals are taken out of the environmental issues in Lagos State.

“I am a real estate person. The law that established and regulates the industry, that is, Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA) has ignored the input of the real estate person to the effect that we manage houses in Lagos. If the responsibility is given to us as managers of houses in Lagos State, we will monitor and remit what is due to the government and it will work.

“As estate managers and caretakers it is our responsibility to collect what is accrue as charges to LAWMA, but the law that recognizes the regulation of my profession does not give me the authority to now act. So, we as professionals have no other means than to safeguard and to protect the industry as allied with the law that governs finance,” the national president of ERCAAN emphasized.