We face challenge of large waste during yuletide — LAWMA boss

By Ikenna Asomba

AS is characteristic of Christmas celebration, Lagos metropolis is filled with heaps of refuse generated during the period.

Four days after Christmas, Vanguard noticed that refuse littered major streets and road medians in areas such as the Oshodi/Apapa Expressway, particularly, Cele Bus-Stop, Ijesha Bus-Stop, Mile 2, Otto Wharf; Berger Yard and Coconut Bus-stop, the Lagos/Badagry Expressway, particularly the Okokomaiko stretch, Iyana-Iba, Alaba Suru, as well as Jakande Low Cost Housing Estate, Ojuelegba, Boundary in Ajegunle area of Lagos, Isolo, LASU/Iba Road, Alaba International Market, Ikotun and Makoko areas of the city.

Heap of refuse at Coconut bus-stop on the Oshodi-Apapa expressway, yesterday.

With the heaps of refuse dotting the landscape, despite the incorporation of the Private Sector Participation, PSP, operators , the introduction of highway managers to sweep the highways and the ban of cart pushers, to ensure proper disposal of refuse in the state, Vanguard gathered that residents have resorted to the burning of refuse along the streets and road paths.

While some residents commended the efforts of road sweepers and PSP operators before Christmas for keeping Lagos clean, others were of the opinion that considering the heaps of refuse in the metropolis, the agency and its collaborating operators had not met their expectation, especially for a state that prides itself as a mega-city.

Outbreak of epidemic

Against the backdrop of these wastes along streets and road paths in the city, Olawale Salako, a resident at Karimu Street, Ojuelegba condemned the refuse heaps on Lagos roads as a result of the festive season.

Urging LAWMA to mobilise trucks to evacuate the refuse heaps, Salako said: “This Christmas season, residents usually generate a lot of waste. But when they wait for the PSP operators and they are not forthcoming, they have no option than to deposit their refuse on the streets or any available space. To prevent any outbreak of epidemic, I urge LAWMA authorities to mobilise their trucks to evacuate the refuse heaps, as residents are at the receiving end.”

Similarly, Ifeanyi Odimega, a resident of Ojoku Street, Tolu-Ajegunle said they have long been waiting for their PSP operator to collect their refuse.

He said: “This Yuletide, our waste has been outside for days now; that is why people started emptying their dustbins indiscriminately because they cannot wait any longer. Sometimes some people dump their generated refuse in the drainage channels, and that is why we continue to have flood in the area.”

He therefore, called on LAWMA to intensify efforts to regularly clear refuse heaps in the area to avoid outbreak of diseases.

Toll free lines: Reacting, the General Manager, Lagos State Waste Management Agency, LAWMA, Dr. Ola Oresanya, who lamented the health hazards posed by these activities of burning of refuse along streets and road paths by residents, pointed that there are toll free lines provided by the agency for residents to call if the PSP operators do not visit their areas.

Advocacy tours

Residents burning refuse along Boundary market road, Ajegunle, yesterday.

Oresanya stated that to prevent situations whereby refuse heaps dot the city, LAWMA before the Christmas embarked on advocacy tours to several communities in the state, instructing residents to properly store their wastes for onward disposal by the PSP operators.

His words: “Keeping Lagos clean is our major focus and commitment as an agency. That is why before this Yuletide season, we did a lot of advocacy, where we instructed residents on how to properly store their household wastes for effective disposal by our PSP operators. In our commitment to achieving this, thousands of free refuse bags were distributed to residents in various areas, because for us, storage is very important.”

Lawlessness:

Reacting to the burning of refuse along streets and road paths by residents, the LAWMA boss said: “Burning refuse is not the best thing for residents to do. Most people take to this in the guise that PSP operators have not visited their area. Just like we have always advocated for, if as a resident you don’t see your PSP operator, you have the right to call them through these toll free lines which LAWMA have provided.”

Speaking further, he said: “However, it must be clarified that our contractors don’t pick bulky wastes such as furniture wastes, trees cut down, grasses among others. But it is still wicked and an insensitivity on the part of some residents to burn these wastes along the streets or road paths. That is lawlessness, which is strange in other parts of the world.”

Major challenges

Oresanya however decried that the major challenge for the agency this Yuletide are the attitude of organisers of street jams, as they are usually known not to clear the huge amount of wastes generated by them after the parties.

His words: “This Yuletide, we have challenges with organiser of street jams and parties, as they don’t plan to clean the streets after their parties.

However, we are battling with this attitude to ensure that Lagos is clean. Most of the organisers of street jams and parties were observed to have left the streets uncleared. To forestall this in future, we are making arrangements to sensitise them to collaborate with LAWMA whenever they are holding street jams and parties.

“We are always ready to collaborate with them. But what we need is for time to give us prior notice and our people will be deployed to dispose the wastes generated from their street jams and parties these Yuletide.”