The Lagos State Waste Management Authority -LAWMA, has alluded that beginning from 1st October, the stipulated fee for waste disposal may increase by 50%. The managing director of LAWMA, Mr. Ibrahim Odumboni, dropped this piece of information, at a news conference in Lagos, on Wednesday.
The conference was held mainly to talk about the activities of the agency in the present year, the latest difficulties, solutions, and sustainability measures that had been implemented. Mr. Odumboni had said that the increase was due to the increased operational costs, and administrative costs, especially the price of diesel and spare parts for the waste trucks that waste managers use to move waste.
Given these instances, a tariff review had to be considered, and a price increment of at least 50% would be implemented starting October 1.
According to Odumboni, the current diesel price increase, excessive rainfall, plus the terrible attitude toward waste management in the state, all significantly increased operating costs. He further opined that PSP operators and residents’ organizations would be allowed to set their own residential waste tariff increases, which LAWMA has approved at a maximum of 50%.
This latest planned increase in the cost of waste disposal is coming at a time when a lot of Lagosians are bemoaning the activities of the PSP operators. Uncollected refuse has been littering several streets and homes in Lagos due to the inability of the waste collectors to ensure the constant collection of garbage.
The waste collectors have likewise, blamed the government for shutting down several dump sites in the state mandating them to make use of the few available ones left. They lament that their trucks have to wait for days before the garbage collected from residential homes could be emptied at the dump sites.
