Biography

Mr. Olugbenga Adebola is the National President of the Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWAMN), CEO of Richbol Environmental Services Limited & Richbol Recycling Initiatives. He has over 30 years cognate experience in the field of waste/ environmental management and Circular Economy. He was involved in several Integrated Solid Waste/Environmental consultancies for various tiers of governments and Parastatals, the private sectors, NGOs and Foundations in Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina-Faso etc.

His company Richbol Environmental Services Ltd, (www, richbol.com) is involved in waste collection, transportation, landfill management and recycling as a closed loop. He established Richbol Recycling Initiatives as a Social Enterprise involved in Plastic recovery & recycling thereby implementing Circular Economy. His company is the first private company that was given the approval by the then Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning (MEPP)
to manage a private landfill site in Lagos in 1998.

He is a member of International Collaborative Working Group (CWG) on Solid Waste Management in low- and middle-income countries. A member of International Partnership for Expanding Waste Management Services of Local Authorities (IPLA), which is an initiative of United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD).

He has over 35 publications/research work to his credit, 3 of these research work/publications are adopted by Google Scholar. These intellectual properties have been used in various educational researches & dissertations by Under & Post graduate students around the world.

In 2009, Mr. Adebola was invited to chair the Technical and Finance committee of Lagos Recycling Initiative (LRI), an advisory body setup by Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to pioneer waste recycling activities in Lagos state.

In 2010, he was invited by the United Nation’s Commission for Sustainable Development (UN-CSD), UNDESA, and UN’s Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD)  to Inter-Sessional Consultative Meeting on Expanding Waste Management Services in Africa, at Rabat, Morocco.  In 2011 he was invited again by the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development (UNCSD) and United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) to join other experts in Tokyo, Japan to formulate and propagate Zero Waste Initiatives through the adoption of 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle).

In 2013, Mr. Adebola was one of the 9 Africans that contributed and reviewed *UNEP/UNITAR’s Guidelines for National Waste Management Strategies: Moving from challenges to opportunities,*  this comprehensive Guidelines/ Document sets a conceptual and methodological framework  for national planning that countries across the globe may adapt to their peculiar/particular circumstances to ensures the development of National Waste Management Strategies for Sustainable Development.

Also, in 2013, he concluded a consultancy service to CCDI, a local NGO and Heinrich Boll Stiftung HSB on the Development of Green Business Opportunities for Local Economies (Circular Economy) within Yaba LCDA of Lagos state. The project was part of HBS’s project on Local Adaptive Capacity for Climate Change Preparedness.

In 2018 he was again invited by Heinrich Boll Stiftung HSB to work with other experts on Urban Planning Processes for Lagos state – This was an inter-sectoral project covering topical issues like Waste Management, Housing, Slum & Informal Settlement, Mobility, Flood & Wetland Management, etc., for A Greater Lagos Project.

In June 2021, Mr. Adebola and his company  provided technical support to LAWMA and UN-HABITAT in the execution of UN-HABITAT’s Lagos WaCT
Project. WaCT project was a UN-Habitat and UN Environment funded project that conducted City solid waste management assessments in Dar es Salam, Kenya and Lagos, Nigeria using Waste Wise City Tool – Step by Step Guide to Asses City MSWM Performance through SDG Indicator 11.6.1 Monitoring (WaCT).

In October, 2015 he was invited by The World Bank (WB) to provide consultancy services on Oyo state Private Sector Participation (PSP) in Solid Waste Management in Ibadan city, Oyo state, Nigeria. He was saddled with the responsibility of proffering solutions on Effective Cost Recovery Systems for the project.

In 2017, Mr. Adebola was invited by Nordic Africa Institute (NIA), Urban Cluster, Gotebor,
Sweden to co-author a book Dealing with Waste (With Dr. Onyanta Adama – a Researcher of NIA & lecturer at Stockholm University. and Prof. Chidi Nzeadibe, a Professor of
Environmental Management & Sustainability, University of Nigeria, Nsukka); The book is a
compendium on Resource Recovery and Entrepreneurship in Informal Sector Solid Waste
Management in African Cities. (The book is currently available at a cost on Amazon and other
online educational sites).

In April 2022 during commemoration 2022 Earth Day Celebration, Mr. Adebola was invited as a guest lecturer at a Conference Organized by Francais du Nigeria, (French Embassy in Nigeria) and IFRA-Nigeria. He spoke on Challenges & Practicalities for Transition to Sustainable
Societies. The French Ambassador for Circular Economy Amb. Nathalie BOYER and her team visited Richbol Recycling Facility at Ojodu for more collaborations.

In 2022, Mr. Adebola was invited twice (June & November) by the Central Bank of Nigeria to participate and exhibit in RT200. RT200 is an intervention program of CBN to increase FX inflow from Non-Oil Exports. The program was expected to provide rebate/incentives for the repatriation of proceeds from Non – Oil Export.

In July 2022, he was invited as a guest lecturer at a 1-Day Waste management workshop,
Organized by Waste Management Dept of Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre
(NAFRC), Lagos. Mr. Adebola spoke on Sustainable Waste Management & Circular
Economy in NAFRC & Surrounding Communities

In commemoration of 2023 World Environment Day Celebration, Mr. Adebola was invited by Lagos State Government as a guest Lecturer at the event and he spoke on Solutions to Plastic Pollution.

Mr. Adebola received several post graduate training on Waste and Environmental management from local and international institutions; amongst these are the training he received at CUTEC Institut, GmbH Claustal University of Technology, Claustal-Zellerfeld, Germany. The training covered areas like Integrated Solid Waste Management and Designs, Waste recycling techniques
and Methodologies, Waste to Energy and many more. He also received special training on
Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries from ECOLE Polytechnique Federal De Lausanne & EAWAG in partnership with WHO collaborating center for Sanitation &
Water in Developing Countries.

Tel: +234 802 318 0549, +234 802 330 0065

Email: adebolagb@richbol.com adebolagb@awamn.org     Website: www.richbol.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olugbenga-adebola-683195a

Skype: gb.adebola

Twitter (X) Handle: @AdebolaGb