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At yesterday’s screening exercise, when asked on how the waste management collapsed in Lagos, particularly in the last four years, Mr Tunji Bello, former Secretary to the State Government, SSG, under the Akinwunmi Ambode led-Administration, blamed the former governor for the development.
Bello explained how Ambode ignored his advice not to jettison the environmental master plan initiated during Bola Tinubu administration and improved upon by the Babatunde Fashola administration.
The former SSG, who was the third nominee called forward for the post of Commissioner, stressed that when the Ambode led-administration “sought my advice on waste and environmental management, I warned against abandoning Public Sector Participant, PSP, operation.”
He said: “But Ambode ignored this advice and threw away the model that has been earning the state global accolades. That was when the system started crumbling.”
Explaining some of the strategies abandoned by the Ambode administration, he said: “The former governor redeployed some of the core staff that were trained for several years by the state government on managing environment from the ministry.”
Besides, he said: “So the Ministry of Environment, which was saddled with the responsibility of maintaining and ensuring the better environment, was confronted by the dearth of experts. So, the ministry was deprived of staff that could monitor and supervise the activities of the PSPs in the state. And the ministry was disorganised.
“After the redeployment was done, the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, suffered greatly. This is because some of its equipment got missing. And other things happened to the agency.”
On possible solutions to correct the current challenges, Bello said that the State Government must return to the earlier strategy adopted by the Babatunde Fashola led administration.
He said: “Presently, many of the PSP operators cannot collect waste effectively in the state.”
Bello, however, raised the alarm that the state might not be able to use all the dumpsites in another four years again if efforts were not made to address their challenges.
“There are a few areas you can set up dumpsites in Lagos State because the state is below the sea level. You cannot set up a dumpsite in Lagos Island, except in places like Agege, Abule Egba and others”, he said.
“On flooding in Lagos, we have nine main drainages in the state, and while six are developed, three are not developed. The Lagos Mainland drainage system is the oldest and it has about six divisions.
“The tertiary drainages and channels must link up with primary channels,” he said.
Bello explained how Ambode ignored his advice not to jettison the environmental master plan initiated during Bola Tinubu administration and improved upon by the Babatunde Fashola administration.
The former SSG, who was the third nominee called forward for the post of Commissioner, stressed that when the Ambode led-administration “sought my advice on waste and environmental management, I warned against abandoning Public Sector Participant, PSP, operation.”
He said: “But Ambode ignored this advice and threw away the model that has been earning the state global accolades. That was when the system started crumbling.”
Explaining some of the strategies abandoned by the Ambode administration, he said: “The former governor redeployed some of the core staff that were trained for several years by the state government on managing environment from the ministry.”
Besides, he said: “So the Ministry of Environment, which was saddled with the responsibility of maintaining and ensuring the better environment, was confronted by the dearth of experts. So, the ministry was deprived of staff that could monitor and supervise the activities of the PSPs in the state. And the ministry was disorganised.
“After the redeployment was done, the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, suffered greatly. This is because some of its equipment got missing. And other things happened to the agency.”
On possible solutions to correct the current challenges, Bello said that the State Government must return to the earlier strategy adopted by the Babatunde Fashola led administration.
He said: “Presently, many of the PSP operators cannot collect waste effectively in the state.”
Bello, however, raised the alarm that the state might not be able to use all the dumpsites in another four years again if efforts were not made to address their challenges.
“There are a few areas you can set up dumpsites in Lagos State because the state is below the sea level. You cannot set up a dumpsite in Lagos Island, except in places like Agege, Abule Egba and others”, he said.
“On flooding in Lagos, we have nine main drainages in the state, and while six are developed, three are not developed. The Lagos Mainland drainage system is the oldest and it has about six divisions.
“The tertiary drainages and channels must link up with primary channels,” he said.
