Lagos Forms Board To Generate Wealth, Jobs From Waste

Lagos State Government has constituted a body to convert the heaps of refuse dumped on the highways, major roads and streets of the mega city to create employment and wealth in weeks to come.

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who gave this assurance over the weekend while inaugurating the new board of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), expressed optimism in the success of the new initiative as he said the challenges with its teething stages would soon be over.

The board will be headed by a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, Daniel Isiofia, as Corps Marshal.

“We are already witnessing a high-level of improvement; we promise that throughout this week and throughout next week, people will see a marked improvement in our state as more equipment come in to the country,” said the Governor.

According to him,beyond the fact that Lagos is clearing waste, “the CLI is also ensuring that we have landfill sites not dumping sites but landfill sites where the waste we are generating in Lagos can be recycled, re-engineered and also resold so that we can create wealth and a new business for Lagosians to tap into.”

Speaking further, the governor said: “Another key aspect of the initiative is that it will create jobs. As we speak to you, we have employed over 8,500 new street sweepers that are being deployed across the state and the target is 27,500. So, every part of Lagos will have street sweepers that are unique to them and live in their neighborhood.

He appealed to Lagos residents on the need to be patient with the state government over the resurgence of waste on major highways and streets in the metropolis and allayed fears of residents that refuse had overtaken the landscape.

The governor said the new waste management policy of government encapsulated in the CLI was designed to holistically address the challenges in the sector, and that all hands were already on deck to confront the initial hitches with the transition period.

Governor Ambode, who was represented at the inauguration by his Special Adviser on Education, Mr. Obafela Bank-Olemoh, said concerted efforts were ongoing to clear the heaps of refuse across the metropolis, and assured that there would be marked improvement in coming days.