Ayodele Olalere
A former Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and immediate past Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Tunji Bello, has blamed immediate past governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, for the current environmental degradation the state is currently experiencing.
Tunji Bello spoke while being screened by 16-man adhoc committee led by Hon. Rotimi Abiru set up the Lagos House of Assembly to screen the 25 nominees sent by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Tunji Bello was one of the nominees.
Asked how he would tackle the environmental problems the state is present battling with if appointed Commissioner for Environment, Bello said the immediate past administration abandoned the environmental system which has been effective since the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
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H said in spite of his advice to the immediate past governor not to jettison the already established system, the administration went ahead to introduce a system that later brought the state into collapse.
“Up till the time of governor Babatunde Fashola administration ended, we had good environmental policy and waste management.
“What happened with the last administration was poor composition of large environmental project.
“In 2003, Asiwaju Tinubu appointed me as Commissioner tor Environment, he took me to United State and I spent two weeks in Chicago and Atlanta.
“One things is that it’s not enough to take off but how you land. In 2003, we noticed , we noticed when people collect waste, they were just dumping them anywhere .
“We later created a system where people go on weighbridge so we could monitor trucks dumping waste.
“With that we were able to tackle indiscriminate dumping of refuse. We created PSP system.
“We reformed Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), and House of Assembly approved LAWMA to begin to monitor PSP operators. We set up street sweepers and create jobs.
“We set up transfer stations to bridge the time and distance to dumpsite. We created a system and took waste management to high level.
“But the last administration destroyed the system and created a new system. I told the last administration that while I was not opposed to creating a new system, they can continue with the established system but that advice was ignored and that was how the state started crumbling.
“The last administration posted out of LAWMA those with the knowledge of how to handle waste.
“That led to degradation. LAWMA tools were stolen that is why LAWMA doesn’t have much equipments today. LAWMA is just trying to rebuild the system but it will take time.
“Some of the PSP operators have lost the capacity to do the job. Some of their trucks have broken down in the last four years.
“But the government can support them like Fashola did by buying trucks for them which they pay back within three years. We need a lot of reviews at the moment.”
Bello said for the state to generate revenue from waste management, waste conversion sites must be created.
“We need to reduce amount of waste going into Olusosun dumpsite. We have to start waste sorting from home.
“There should be different bags for plastics and bottles as well as nylons so they can be recycled. Under Tinubu, we used to have waste conversion site at Ikorodu where they were being converter to fertilisers. The state government can revive that.”
He also lamented lack of enforcement of government’s policy.
“We are not doing enough on enforcement because there are pressures, political pressures.
“There are policies government must enforce and not compromise which are traffic, environment and building plans. We should not compromise these three areas,” he said.
