Lagos Residents To Pay 50% More For Waste Bill – LAWMA

 Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) says the authority is proposing a 50 per cent  hike in waste bill  across board for Lagos residents.

Mr Ibrahim Odumboni, the Managing Director of LAWMA, made this known during a news conference on Wednesday in Lagos.

Odumboni said that the price increase was due to the high cost of operation by the Private Sector Participants (PSP) operators.

According to him, the cost of Diesel used by PSP operators increased from N278 per litre in January to about N875, representing 300 per cent increment, the LAWMA boss said in advancing the reason for the hike in waste bill for Lagos residents.

”We are in the process of having an extensive pricing review for PSP services offered to the households knowing fully well the economic reality.

”Also we are not introducing any change that will turn away consumers of our product.

”While the high cost is about 300 per cent, we are proposing 50 per cent increase across board,” Odumboni said.

The CEO said that the governor was also providing additional subsidies for fuel other than the existing subsidies given to PSPs to share.

He noted that the state was generating 13,000 metric tonnes of wastes daily, adding that the trucks were being run with diesel 100 per cent.

He appealed to Lagos residents to patronise PSP operators instead of the illegal cart pushers who dumped refuse indiscriminately on the roads

Odumboni said that the authority was considering the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to power PSP trucks to address the problem of high energy cost.

Besides the 50% hike in waste bill, the LAWMA helmsman also warned that the authority would prosecute any Lagos household that did not have a bin from October 1

”If you don’t have a bin from October 1, you may be prosecuted,” Odumboni said.

He said that it was wrong for a compound of several houses to have just one waste bin.

According to him, sanitary officers will go round from house to house to advocate on the importance of adopting a bin and sorting of wastes.

He said that the agency was working on the creation of Transfer Loading Stations (TLS) in all the local government areas of the state, for fast and smooth evacuation of waste around the metropolis.

The managing director hinted of imminent establishment of a ‘bottle-to-bottle’ recycling centre in Lagos.

He said that the project was initiated in partnership with a private company who would source their raw materials from the plastic waste generated across the Lagos metropolis.

According to him, Lagos will soon become the hub of recycling in West Africa.

Odumboni said that the authority planned to set up 30 recycling centres across the state by the end of the year.

He said the centres were expected to boost the Lagos recycling initiative, which apart from its economic benefits, would mitigate the challenge of plastic pollution.

Also, the President of Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWAMN), Mr. David Oriyomi, while noting the need for the 50% hike in waste bill as proposed by LAWMA for Lagos residents, said the price of diesel negatively affected their operation.

He thanked the governor for the subsidy offered to PSP operators, adding that service charges needed to be reviewed to reflect current economic realities.(NAN)

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