According to the Lagos Garbage Management Body (LAWMA), the authority is recommending an overall 50% increase in the waste cost for Lagos residents.
This was announced by Mr. Ibrahim Odumboni, the managing director of LAWMA, on Wednesday in Lagos during a press conference.
Odumboni said that the Private Sector Participants (PSP) operators’ high operating costs were to blame for the price hike.
He claimed that from N278 per litre in January to around N875, or a 300% increase, the price of diesel utilized by PSP operators.
”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 claimed that in addition to the current fuel subsidies shared by PSPs, the governor was also providing additional fuel subsidies.
He stated that the state produced 13,000 metric tonnes of rubbish every day and added that all of the trucks’ fuel was diesel.
He urged Lagos citizens to support PSP businesses rather than the unlicensed cart pushers who carelessly dumped trash on the streets.
In order to combat the issue of high energy costs, Odumboni stated that the authority was thinking about using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to power PSP vehicles.
The LAWMA helmsman also cautioned that the organization would pursue legal action against any home without a trash can as of October 1.
”If you don’t have a bin from October 1, you may be prosecuted,” Odumboni said.
A compound comprising multiple homes shouldn’t have just one trash can, he claimed.
He claims that sanitary officers will visit each household to discuss the value of adopting a container and sorting waste.
For quick and easy garbage evacuation around the city, he said that the agency was planning to establish Transfer Loading Stations (TLS) in every local government area of the state.
The managing director made a suggestion that a “bottle-to-bottle” recycling facility would soon be built in Lagos.
According to him, the project was started in collaboration with a private business that would obtain its raw materials from the plastic garbage produced throughout the Lagos metropolitan.
He predicts that Lagos would quickly emerge as West Africa’s recycling capital.
By the end of the year, the authority intended to establish 30 recycling facilities throughout the state, according to Odumboni.
He claimed that the recycling facilities will help Lagos’ recycling program, which would help to reduce the problem of plastic pollution in addition to having positive economic effects.
The price of diesel, according to Mr. David Oriyomi, president of the Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWAMN), has a negative impact on their business.
He thanked the governor for providing the PSP operators with a subsidy and added that service costs needed to be adjusted to reflect the current state of the economy.
