By Olasunkanmi Akoni

LAGOS—THE Lagos State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, yesterday, assured residents that the waste backlog across the state will soon be a thing of the past.


LAWMA’s Managing Director, Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin, said this during the commissioning of the rehabilitated Road E and newly constructed disposal platforms at the Olusosun Disposal Facility, Ojota area of the state.


Addressing newsmen at the ceremony, Gbadegesin described the project as a strategic intervention designed to eliminate operational bottlenecks, improve access within the disposal facility and enhance the efficiency of waste evacuation operations across Lagos.


He said: “We announced that we’re winding down activities at the site and that we have a timeline. If you recall, we said 18 months from the time that we did groundbreaking on construction of the transfer loading station. What we’ve done here is to reclaim a portion so that we can have somewhere to dispose as we wind down the activity.


“That’s what we’ve achieved, and so that some of these all these, the waste backlog on the roads, we’ll be able to clear that away because it’s not a good thing for us to have waste on our roads.


“So, by opening this place, we’ve created more space. Over the next few days there won’t be refuse on our roads.


“However, Lagos will be free from dirt when Lagosians decide that Lagos will be free from dirt. It is collective. If everyone in Lagos decides today that there’s not going to be waste on the road again, and then we won’t have a problem. But now, some people have decided that they will put their waste on the road, on the median, instead of giving it to the PSP operator, instead of waiting for the PSP operator.


“And we’ve also said if you have any delay, reach out to LAWMA. If you have delay in your collection, call LAWMA directly.”


While reaffirming LAWMA’s commitment to continually improving waste management services, Gbadegesin urged residents to complement government’s efforts by patronising assigned Public Sector Participant, PSP operators, paying for waste collection services promptly and refraining from indiscriminate dumping of refuse.