Stakeholders Condemn High Rates Charged By Agencies Of Lagos State Government Without Corresponding Services
Stakeholders have expressed concern over the inability of the Lagos State Government to deliver services that are commensurate with the levies and fees being paid by the residents of the state.
This was stated at one-day stakeholders meeting called by the Committee for The Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) in collaboration with the Center for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership entitled: “Lagos State Environmental Laws: Implications And Effects On Human And Socio-Economic Rights of The People’ on Thursday in Lagos.”
Concerned citizens, civil society organizations, trade unions and the media gathered at the event to find lasting solutions to some of the policies of the government as they relate to the environment and well beings of the residents of Lagos State.
The discussion commenced with remarks by the President of the Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) and Chairman, Center for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Comrade Debo Adeniran, who stated that there is need to create an avenue where implementers and beneficiaries of corporate policies, either good or bad, will have direct interaction with government agencies thereby proffering lasting solutions to current challenges in the society.
The CDHR President promised that the body would continue to hold regular stakeholders engagements from for the benefit of the government and the citizens.
The panel session focused on policy making and execution, most especially as it relates to the environment, and why the policies and laws of the government are not being obeyed by the people and why some of the agencies saddled with the enforcement of law and order compromise in carrying out their duties or obligation and why the citizens disobey the laws of the government.
In his comments, the pioneer Public Relations Officer of CDHR, Comrade Shina Loremikan wondered why the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) wants to be paid for the jobs they did not do.
Loremikan added that he could not phantom the rationale behind LAWMA’s continuous increase in rate paid for waste, saying that “whereas you won’t see them to pick the waste for proper disposal. You might not see LAWMA or PSP operatives to pick your waste for two months, but when they appear, they want you to pay for the weeks they had been absent.”
Also speaking, the President of Center for Human And Socio-Economic Rights (CHRS), Comrade Alex Omotehinse said that despite the current economic hardship in the country and pleadings from various human rights groups, the Lagos State Government went ahead to ban styrofoam.
The CHRS President stated further that millions of people have become jobless due to the ban.
Answering questions on why LAWMA fails to pick waste and still increases tariffs, Head of Department, Legal Services of the Agency, Olubukola Adeyemo stated that there’s need to increase the rates because the operating cost has gone up significantly due to the current economic situation in the country and cost of diesel to power most of the operating vehicles.
Adeyemo therefore appealed to members of the public to bear with the agency.
The LAWMA Head of Legal Services stated that the agency has been trying to provide palliatives for the operators, but that the government does not subscribe to failure of PSP operators to pick up waste as at when due.
She noted that the residents of the state must be ready to pay for the waste because the government could not use tax payers money to pay the waste operators, while she used the opportunity to roll out toll free lines of the agency for complaints and assistance.
The state Commissioner for the Environment and Natural Resources, Hon. Tokunbo Wahab, ably represented at the meeting by Kunle Adesina, called on the people to be part and parcel of policy making on issues that concern them, their lives and the lives of their children.
According to Adesina, before styrofoam was finally banned in Lagos in 2024, the National Council on Environment had in a meeting with stakeholders in 2021 ironed out grey areas on the issue.
While explaining the rationale behind the banning of stryfoam, he said that it is dangerous and hazardous to the environment, and that the government gave the people three years before implementing the ban.
He reiterated that adequate consultations were made before the ban, adding that the government would soon deal with agencies and parastatals that are not performing their duties optimally.
Speaking further, he revealed that the Lagos State Government recently signed an MoU with a Ghanian firm (Jonspong) to treat solid and liquid waste in the state, and that there is possibility of reintroducing the monthly environmental sanitation in Lagos State.