It would seem that the more Visionscape and its collaborating PSP operators clear the streets of Lagos of piling heaps of waste, the more mountainous the heaps of waste become.
Lagos is said to be generating about 13,000 metric tons of waste daily, about the highest in sub-Sahara Africa, posing a huge challenge to the state, and with grave health implications for the citizens.
Several months after the government sealed a deal with Visionscape Sanitation Solution, a municipal waste manager, to collect and manage domestic waste in the state, not much is seen achieved, as refuse still litter the metropolis, despite the company’s acclaimed efforts at ensuring a cleaner Lagos.
But the Visionscape has assured Lagos residents there would be a marked improvement in the next few days, as it will be taking delivery of more trucks to enhance its performance in waste collection, recalling that it has distributed over 8 million garbage bags and over 400,000 garbage bins in the last two months.
“What we want from people living in Lagos is to generate your waste, bag your waste and drop them in front of your houses for effective cleaning and to prevent blockage of our drainages and canals; the garbage bags and bins are meant for the waste generated, so please ensure that the wastes are being packaged and kept at the front of the houses,” John Irving, the company’s CEO pleaded.
Checks show that from Mushin to Alimosho, Ajeromi-Ifelodun to Shomolu, Lagos Island to Eti-Osa, the situation is the same. The heaps pile, and the waste manager seems too slow in response, raising questions and concerns about its capacity to tackle the challenge.
The Lekki-Ajah environs including major roads such as Addo, Badore and Langbasa have become notorious for waste heaps. In the early weeks of March, the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) waste bins were visible at different points on the roads, but collection was not frequent. Most of the bins have been removed and not returned as at time of writing, a situation that has led residents to resort to dropping their refuse on the floor.
The consequence is that parts of the roads are blocked with waste now contributing to traffic gridlock along that axis. The situation is even worse from the Addo roundabout to the end of Langbasa community, where heaps of waste compete for space with roadside sellers.
Some residents of areas such as Lawanson, Mushin Alimosho, who spoke with BusinessDay, said they were being suffocated by stench emanating from decomposed refuse in their areas. Joy Achum, a trader in Lawanson, described the situation as embarrassing and unhealthy.
“For a town aspiring to be a smart city to have such heaps along the roads is quite disturbing. On the stretch of Ojuelegba-Lawanson road, heaps of refuse are left for days. This should not be. What one would have expected to see that garbage cleared on a daily basis. Truth is that waste is generated by minutes and hours, so why would the waste manager now wait for several days before coming to evacuate them,” Timothy Lawal, a resident of Idi-Araba, said.
Wale Daramola, a resident of Egbeda in Alimosho, who also spoke with BusinessDay, decried mounting heaps of refuse along Egbeda-Isheri road. Daramola said the piling heaps was as a direct consequence of the inadequate capacity in manpower and equipment by Visionscape.
He said: “It is clear that the firm (Visionscape) does not have adequate capacity in terms of machinery/equipment and personnel to cope the volume of waste generated in Lagos State daily. Two things I will advocate: Split the state along the three senatorial districts and engage three major municipal waste managers who should also have the PSP working with them in each of senatorial districts. Alternatively, the government can directly buy equipment for the so as to increase their turn-around time.”
Adebola Shabi, special adviser to the Lagos State governor on the CLI, confirmed efforts by the sanitation solution company to contain the challenges posed by wastes in the state.
“There are still ongoing discussions with waste collection operators, former PSP operators, and the state government, in conjunction with Visionscape to have as many Transfer Loading Stations as possible to enhance Visionscape’s performance in the disposal of waste in the state,” Shabi assured.
He disclosed that Olusosun dumpsite had been shut down by the state government for the safety of the people working there and also for public health.
“And we have been asking the trucks to be going down to Ewe Elepe and Epe; looking at the distance, we see that most of the waste collectors’ trucks cannot go far distance and that has also contributed to the slow pace of disposing the waste,” Shabi explained.
There is renewed collaboration between the state government, waste collection operators and Visionscape and Adebola assured that on the strength of that collaboration, heaps of refuse would disappear from Lagos streets in a few days.
Continuing, he said, “We are engaging different stakeholders, waste collection operators, community development committees, market women, civil societies, landlords and tenants’ associations and various NGOs in the state to assess how we have performed in the last one year.”
As part of the strategies for waste management, the state government in conjunction with Visionscape is planning to set up 57 plastic collection centres in the 57 local government areas and local council Development Authorities of the state.
“These centres will serve two purposes. They will create jobs and also contribute to the environmental cleaning efforts of the state government,” Adebola said, appealing to residents of the state not to throw disused plastic containers into the canal or drainages anymore.
