POLITICS
Waste Management Offences: Lagos jails 83, fines 3,000, penalises 1,200 persons
The Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) says a total of 83 persons had been convicted and jailed for waste management offences in the last one year.
The Managing Director of LAWMA, Mr Ibrahim Odumboni, said this on Wednesday during a news briefing on the state of affairs on waste management in Lagos, updates on activities from the beginning of 2022 till August.
Odumboni also said that over 1,200 persons were penalised to sweep the environment and over 3,000 persons fined, having been found guilty of committing various forms of offences relating to indiscriminate disposal of waste in Lagos.
He said that the prosecution of the offenders was necessitated to deter bad culture to waste management.
“Eighty-three people were jailed last year from waste related offences. Over 1,200 did community services – they joined our sweepers to sweep and do the job very well and over 3,000 were fined.
“But the most important thing for us is, why don’t we ensure we do the right thing.
“For people out there, who continue to migrate and dump waste indiscriminately, any time you are caught, you would be held responsible and would face the wrath of the law,” the LAWMA MD said.
According to him, the enforcement team set up by the agency has become very active, and has ceased over 1,400 carts across the state in the last two months.
He said that the team would ensure that a much more formal, agreeable and consistent system of waste was introduced into the society.
Odumboni said that truck pushers were also guilty of dumping waste in canals and drainage systems, causing menace of drainage blockages informing floods.
“Having extended hands of fellowship to cart pushers on how they can work with the agency to formalise their operations, the agency would not take it lightly with those who kick against the hands of fellowship and rules of engagement.
“For anyone who does not have an identity, who poses security threats to the state, who refuses to follow the law and put the lives of Lagosians in danger, there is going to be zero-tolerance on that,
“And so, we would continue in our operations to get rid of cart pushers in Lagos,” he said.
He frowned at mischievous offenders who attack workers and facilities of the agency, saying it had fostered engagement with law enforcement agents to bring culprits to book.
The LAWMA boss said that the agency was now working with LASTMA, the Neighborhood Watch and other security agencies to prosecute those caught on the live time metropolitan cameras across the state.
He said that each of the over 20 million residents of the state generated a minimum of 0.65kg, averaging 13,000 metric tonnes in all, demanding no less than 650 heavy-duty trucks to evacuate them.
Odumboni said that the agency had been straightened to the task to ensure delivering excellent services, with the aim of clearing everything on daily basis.
He said that the number of PSP trucks operating in the state had been upscaled under the present Gov.Babajide Sanwo-Olu led administration from about 627 to over 1,100; higher than those of New York.
According to him, about 150 of the 1,100 trucks are operated by LAWMA.
He said that the rising cost of diesel from the first quarter of 2022 had posed huge challenges for operators. (NAN)
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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