EKO NEWS

LAWMA Trains Staff of EKSWAMA on Waste Management Best Practices

Published

4 hours ago

Dec 17, 2024.

As part of its commitment to resource sharing and capacity building, LAWMA has recently hosted a three-day training program for staff members of the Ekiti State Waste Management Authority (EKSWAMA).

Ekohotblog reports that the training aimed to equip participants with modern waste management techniques, aligning with LAWMA’s goal of improving living conditions and environmental sanitation.

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The EKSWAMA team, led by its Director-General, Mr. Olasunkanmi Onipede, was warmly received by LAWMA’s Managing Director/CEO, Dr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin, and his management team at LAWMA headquarters in Ijora Olopa.

Expressing his delight at the collaboration, Gbadegesin emphasized LAWMA’s commitment to resource sharing and its history of working with other states and West African countries to promote efficient waste management practices.

His words, “ LAWMA, was initially established in 1977 as a refuse collection board but the current structure of the authority came about in 1999.

The incumbent president of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who was the Governor of Lagos State then restructured LAWMA to a scientific and professional waste management authority.

LAWMA Trains Staff of EKSWAMA on Waste Management Best Practices

Since then, LAWMA keeps coming up with new innovations. Managing the waste of 23 million people who generate 13 tonnes of waste daily is not a child’s play, we continue to learn, unlearn and relearn in the process of waste management”.

“Today, we have incorporated over 400 PSPs, who have at least two compactors each to evacuate household waste across the state.

Currently, LAWMA is working round the clock and transiting from a linear into a circular economy system, embracing the reduce, reuse and recycle model.

This is the best place you can come to learn, as we have the best hands who will share both theoretical and practical insights about waste management with you.

I assure you that at the end of the three days training, you will still have to come back for more’’ he noted.

The Director-General of the Ekiti State Waste Management Authority (EKSWAMA), Mr. Olasunkanmi Onipede, commended LAWMA’s waste management operations as a model worth replicating in Ekiti State.

Onipede highlighted that the purpose of the three-day training was to gain valuable insights and learn from LAWMA’s success in waste management, with the goal of applying these strategies to improve waste management practices in Ekiti State.

He said: “Coming from a state where we manage the waste of nearly 3.5 million people to Lagos State where over 23 million residents’ waste is managed, means that we are in the right place to learn from.

What we are concerned about, is how we can replicate Lagos Waste Management system in Ekiti State. From all we have seen, we are optimistic that this training is just a step to more partnerships with LAWMA.

We are ready to drink from your wealth of knowledge and get EKSWAMA’s regulations right. We are glad to be here and thank you for having us’’, Onipede said.

LAWMA’s Head of PSP Domestic Services, Dr. Tunde Suleiman, shared valuable insights on solid waste management principles and practices.

In his lecture, Suleiman provided an overview of the processes involved in waste management, ranging from collection to disposal.

He said: “The waste management sector keeps evolving and that is why in LAWMA, we emphasise environmental best practices in the industry. A lot of processes are involved, from the collection of waste to the treatment, transportation and disposal stages, as the Authority manages different types of waste ranging from hazardous, commercial, recyclable, organic, healthcare, as well as domestic waste.”

LAWMA Trains Staff of EKSWAMA on Waste Management Best Practices

Sulaiman however, noted that the Authority had adopted advocacy and sensitisation as essential tools in managing waste in a megacity like Lagos, adding that sensitising the people complemented LAWMA’s operational efforts.

”If we have to roll out all the compactors we have to evacuate waste in public spaces, we will still be in need of more and that is too expensive to fund.

Therefore, we adopted continuous advocacy and sensitisation, in order to work on the mindset of people, our focus is attitudinal change.

If residents embrace a positive change towards the environment, we won’t have to be clearing the roads every day. So, the challenge we have is residents’ poor attitude to the environment. Enforcement on the other hand is always a last result’’. he stressed

The director of Medical Health and Safety Services, Dr. Mrs. Modupe Okoh, gave the general safety talk, while the director of Public Affairs, Mrs. Folashade Kadiri, took the team through the schedule of activities of the three-day training.

The team were also shown short documentaries of LAWMA’s activities.