Former Lagos State Commissioner for The Environment and commissioner-nominee, Mr. Tunji Bello has said the menace of refuse in the state was because the past administration headed by Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode abandoned a working refuse disposal system under Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) to introduce a system that could not cope with the volume of refuse generated in the state.
Bello, who is the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, stated this while answering questions from members of the Lagos State of Assembly ad-hoc committee during his screening on Thursday.
He said the LAWMA personnel have already been trained and specialized in different areas of refuse management before been taken out of the system which created a vacuum that the operators of the newly introduced model could not cope with.
He said the solution to the situation may already be on the way with the introduction of sorting refuse at point of generation and separating same into different refuse bags as been introduced by the current administration.
Bello advised that the state must intensify efforts on waste management and conversion.
“There are a few areas you can set up dumpsite in Lagos State because the state is below the sea level. You cannot set up a dump site in Lagos Island, except in places like Agege, Abule Egba and others.
“On flooding in Lagos, we have nine main drainages in the state, and while six are developed, three are not developed and flooding is always when there are blockages in the flow of flood to the Lagoon in these drainages”.
“The Lagos Mainland drainage system is the oldest and it has about six divisions. The tertiary drainages and channels must link up with primary channels,” he said.
This was corroborated by the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Rotimi Abiru, who stated that everybody was concerned about the environment in the state.
Abiru advised Bello to impress it on the government that the state could not afford not to improve on the environment.
