Chioma Umeha
The state Commissioner for the Environment, Mr
Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, gave the warning in a statement on Saturday, after he
paid an unscheduled visit to Soulus Dumpsite.
Durosinmi-Etti said that such vehicles would be
made to go through re-certification process before they could use any dumpsite
in the state.
He decried a situation in which compactors broke
down incessantly at dumpsites, causing unnecessary delay and loss of man-hour.
The commissioner said that such inefficiency was
capable of bringing hardship to Lagos residents and jeopardise government
efforts to achieve a cleaner and sustainable environment.
He urged all waste collection operators to put
their compactors in order.
“Owners of dysfunctional compactors will no longer
be allowed to dump refuse at dumpsites across Lagos State until they put their
vehicles in order.
“They will have to obtain government
recertification, to avoid delay at dumpsites,” Durosinmi-Etti said.
He said that the same measures would be applied to
owners of waste compactors left aimlessly on the roads.
The commissioner said that compactors left
indiscriminately on the roads, road medians or street corners would be treated
as abandoned vehicles.
He said that such vehicles would be handed over to
the Lagos State Abandoned Vehicles Committee, if the owners would not repair
and remove them from the roads fast.
According to him, all waste collection operators
should ascertain the condition of their compactors and effect repairs where
necessary.
“They should ensure removal of unserviceable ones
from the points of their abandonment within two weeks to avoid stringent
measures from the government.
“It is in the good interest of the state that more
waste compactors are functional to ease movement in and out of dumpsites.
“This will improve the turn-around time of
compactors to boost the achievement of a cleaner, healthier and sustainable
environment,” he said.
