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By Maduka Nweke
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Mr. Ibrahim Odumboni, has said that government’s efforts to bring about cleaner, livable environment in Lagos State is paying well.
Driving through the city of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, one cannot help but observe the practical steps taken by the administration of Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to establish environmental sustainability in the state. Following the blueprint of the T.H.E.M.E.S. agenda introduced by Governor Sanwo-Olu on assumption of office in 2019, the state has prioritised cleanliness and environmental sustainability.
Spearheading the government’s quest to establish a cleaner and livable environment for Lagosians, is the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA). The Authority since the inception of the present administration has introduced various programmes and initiatives, which have been instrumental to helping the state achieve its objectives on environment. One of the key initiatives embarked upon by LAWMA in tackling the menace of indiscriminate waste dumping and plastic pollution is recycling.
In 2019, the Authority launched the Blue Box programme, which later metamorphosed into the Lagos Recycle Initiative, aimed at encouraging separation of waste at the point of generation, for recycling purposes. Massive media advocacy campaigns have been carried out to educate residents on the need to embrace recycling as a way of life. Also in the last one year, recycling companies in the state have grown from three to 100, with over 12,500 jobs created.
On the recent traction gained by recycling in Lagos State, the agency’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ibrahim Odumboni has this to say: “Since the launch of the recycling initiative by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, we’ve grown from three recycling companies to 100 recycling companies and still counting. We currently have more than 600 aggregators, and over 12,500 jobs created in the sector so far. Therefore, you can see that we have started a movement and a growth. It’s over two years now and the progress that is being made is enormous”.
What LAWMA is doing in the area of recycling deserves the support of all and sundry. Lagos, with a population of over 20 million people, is said to be generating about 13,000 metric tonnes of waste daily, with plastic materials constituting 17 per cent of the wastes.
