Patronise PSP, LAWMA co-ordinator urges residents
By Motolani AbdulGafar
The Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) has insisted that residents should patronise the government coordinated waste managers – private sector participants (PSPs) rather than the cart pushers to keep the environment cleaner.
The agency stated that the proper way to keep the environment clean and hygienic is to dispose refuse through government-approved channels.
Speaking to ECHONEWS, the LAWMA Street Captain Coordinator in Oshodi-Isolo, Mrs. Oreofe Oniyide, said LAWMA as a body is responsible for managing waste generated in Lagos state through waste collection, transportation and disposal that has been duly structured right from the onset.
According to her, Ejigbo has been strictly monitored by the agency in the last few years as one of the communities where people still patronise cart pushers, polluting the environment with refuse.
She said: “Our duty is to go round and ensure strict compliance to government directive on waste disposal within Oshodi-Isolo. Over the years, we have noticed that residents do not patronise PSP but cart pushers whereas, they spend more by patronising the cart pushers. While the cart pushers charge per service, PSP charges monthly irrespective of the volume of their refuse collected throughout the month and they are issued payment receipts. We keep educating residents that the receipt can be used for many things because it is recognised everywhere. You can use it to open an account in banks, for registration in finance institutions.”
She disclosed that there are more cart pushers in Oshodi-Isolo LG especially Ejigbo that the cart pushers can only be flushed out of the system if the residents cease to patronise them.
“If you go round the community, you will notice that there are so many dumping sites in this area. This is so because cart pushers usually dump refuse at night indiscriminately in various locations and we have caught them many times. The adverse effect of this is that the environment becomes polluted even after LAWMA keeps cleaning the area but the cleaning is not really effective because they keep throwing dirt at night.
“We keep advocating that we want cleaner Lagos but we really can’t achieve that if there is no co-operation between us and the residents. We want an environment that is healthy and we pray that we can all achieve it,” she said.
