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The National Association of Scrap and Waste Dealers Employers of Nigeria (NASWDEN) has launched a move to sanitise and rebrand the scrap industry, pledging to collaborate with security agencies to identify and weed out vandals and other criminal elements operating under the guise of scrap dealing.
National President of the association, Luke Uchechukwu Ogbu, said the initiative was central to NASWDEN’s two-day National Executive Council meeting and workshop in Asaba, Delta State.
The workshop, themed, “Opportunities, Challenges and Legal Realities of the Scrap Industry,” is also aimed at educating operators on their legal rights and responsibilities and strengthening cooperation with governments across the country.
Ogbu said the association was concerned that legitimate scrap dealers had for years been stereotyped as vandals and criminals because of the activities of unscrupulous operators.
“This programme is an avenue to sensitise our people on the need to collaborate with Nigerian security agents and government to make sure we join hands to reduce the rate of vandalism,” he said.
“In the past, people tagged scrap dealers in Nigeria as vandals and criminals, but there are so many intellectuals and genuine scrap dealers among us.
“So, we want to use this avenue to work in collaboration with Nigerian security agents to make sure we fish out all those bad eggs in our industry. That is the essence of this programme.”
Ogbu said the workshop would equally educate members on Nigerian laws governing their operations, arguing that lack of knowledge of their rights sometimes exposed legitimate operators to harassment and intimidation.
He assured that the association would continue to promote lawful operations and work with relevant authorities to ensure that genuine practitioners were protected while criminal elements were excluded from the industry.
Abia State Commissioner for Environment, Philemon Ogbonna, and his Delta State counterpart, represented by Deputy Director in the ministry, Benedict Anaro, stressed the need for proper registration and regulation of scrap dealers.
They described scrap dealing as a legitimate economic activity that should not be criminalised because of the activities of some unscrupulous operators.
“There is dignity in labour. There is dignity in everything we are doing,” they said.
According to them, proper registration would enable governments to regulate the industry and distinguish legitimate operators from those using scrap dealing as a cover for vandalism and theft.
“Scrap business is like every other business. It is a chain business. And when there is proper regulation, it will help the government and the operators identify those who are genuine business people,” they said.
They stressed that government could not sanitise the industry alone and needed the cooperation of the association and its members.
Pioneer Deputy National President of NASWDEN, Patrick Njoku, acknowledged that the association had faced internal challenges since its establishment but said efforts were being made to overcome them.
“The people who founded the association had very good intentions. But, in every human activity, you have challenges. The association, from formation to the period we are in, has had its challenges, and we are working together jointly to make sure that these challenges are overcome,” he said.
Njoku expressed confidence in the current leadership and urged members to avoid actions capable of creating divisions within the association.
Representing the Delta State Commissioner of Police, CSP Agbor Tams also urged scrap dealers to strengthen cooperation with security agencies, ensure that members were properly registered and avoid transactions capable of undermining the integrity of the association.
