Zika Bobby
Members of the Incorporated Trustees of Waste Managers Association of Nigeria (WMAN) also known as Private Sector Participation (PSP) Waste Operators, have dismissed claims of a purported settlement agreement with the Lagos State Government.
In a statement issued last Thursday and signed by its Chairman, Alhaji Ola Egbeyemi, the PSP waste operators said contrary to the claim, the state government is insisting that they are restricted to commercial waste collection only while Visioscape continues to manage the collection and disposal of domestic waste, which has remained the bone of contention between them.
“There is no such thing as settlement, they are insisting that we keep to commercial waste collection, while Visionscape carries on with domestic waste collection and disposal, so, what is the settlement there; that has remained the bone of contention between us, and we are telling them it cannot work out, as it will amount to taking away 80 percent of our jobs, and if that happens, we will not only run out of business, all of our employees, running into 25,000 direct and indirect jobs will be thrown into the unemployment market,” Egbeyemi said.
He said the state government had muted the idea of having them work under Visionscape, the foreign waste disposal firm it hired to take over the job from them but they have not been able to reach any agreeable settlement with the company, alleging that the firm would enslave them economically if they accept the conditions it set before them.
Appealing to Lagosians to understand their stand on the matter, he said the current arrangement between the state government and the foreign waste firm can never bring about the once good waste management the state had enjoyed in the past, as he enjoined the people to discountenance the government’s claim of reaching any agreement with them on the matter.
He said the parties were due back in court on May 3 for the determination of the matter for trial.