LAGOS – The Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWAMN) in Lagos has urged residents of the state to re-elect Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for continuity and consistency of a cleaner Lagos.
The charge was given during a media parley organized by AWAMN, in conjunction with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), which held at Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday.
Managing Director/CEO, LAWMA, Ibrahim Odumboni, commended the Sanwo-Olu administration for his support for LAWMA in the past three years, adding: “There’s been improvement on the management of wastes in the state. We are here to let you know that a lot is being done by this administration to make it happen, with effective collaboration with our PSPs and other stakeholders.”
While appealing to all tenants in Lagos State to return Sanwo-Olu for a second term to ensure continuity in waste management, Odumboni stated: “We also want to let you know that for this administration, we want a continuity so that the PSP can begin to prosper, and we can begin to see a lot of changes.
“In our budget this year, we made a lot of efforts for the change of our PSP fleet and we are aware that in 2001, our governor procured 102 brand new trucks for LAWMA. We are going a step further by supporting the fleet.”
According to him: “Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has approved a 2023 budgetary plan to help Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators in the state recapitalise by injecting new waste evacuation trucks into their fleet.”
Odumboni said that the recapitalisation was aimed at improving waste management in Lagos State, to make the environment cleaner and livable for residents, to cope with about 13,000 metric tonnes of waste generated daily.
He explained that the recapitalisation would help to address most of the challenges facing PSP operators, including the high cost of new waste evacuation trucks, which many of the PSP operators could not afford to replace their aging fleet.
The LAWMA boss said: “The Lagos State government’s plan is to provide the PSP operators with low-interest loans to purchase new trucks. The government will also provide technical assistance to the PSP operators to help them manage their fleet more efficiently.
“It will also stimulate economic growth by providing opportunities for small businesses to thrive. By providing the PSP operators with low-interest loans, we are giving them the opportunity to expand their businesses and create more jobs.”
Also, members of the AWAM in Lagos State launched a door-to-door campaign in support of the re-election bid of Governor Sanwo-Olu, in a campaign, which kicked off in Ikeja, and would be held simultaneously across the state covering the 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas (LCDAs), to sensitise residents on the need to support Sanwo-Olu’s second term bid.
Speaking during the campaign, the president of AWAMN, David Oriyomi, thanked the governor for the support, especially on the plan to help PSP operators recapitalise and inject new trucks into their operational fleet, noting that under the governor’s leadership, the state has witnessed significant improvements in waste collection and disposal.
The door-to-door campaign by AWAMN members is a demonstration of the association’s support for the governor’s leadership style in the state and his efforts at continuously improving waste management in the state.
Oriyomi thanked the governor for his support to the PSPs, adding that the waste managers have evaluated their performance over the years, and have mapped out areas of improvement, with sanctions for operators who refuse to comply.
“We in AWAMN have 100% support for the Sanwo-Olu’s administration, he stood by us and we will always stand by him”, he concluded.
At the event, Executive Director Finance, LAWMA, Kunle Adebiyi, noted that the present administration had a huge scorecard in waste management being one of the largest employers of labour, urging Lagosians to show total support