The Managing Director/CEO of the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Mr. Ibrahim Odumboni, has given assurance that the backlog of waste dotting the cityscape will be a thing of the past in seven days.

He spoke while coordinating operations around the city, adding that LAWMA would exploit the gradual cessation of rainfall and appreciable progress on landfill rehabilitation to achieve the feat.

Odumboni said: “Thankfully, the rains have subsided and coupled with the reasonable progress on rehabilitation at the landfills, all these are working for good to complement our efforts. I can tell you that the backlog of refuse will be gone in seven days. We have re-energised our operational machinery, working in renewed collaboration with the PSP operators”.

He also stated that PSPs will provide optimal service delivery, just as the agency has been providing backup services in areas with noticeable service gaps.

“We are working on an arrangement to sort out some of the issues affecting the performance of PSP operators in the State, especially the issue of scarcity and high cost of diesel, which has practically undermined our efforts to rid Lagos of the waste backlog”, he stated.

The LAWMA boss, however, urged residents to bag and containerise their waste and support the efforts of the Authority to sanitise the environment by shunning indiscriminate waste disposal, which is one of the major reasons for flood disasters and other attendant environmental hazards.

Also speaking, the President of the Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWAMN), Mr. David Oriyomi, noted that the PSP operators have a renewed commitment to their responsibility of maintaining a clean environment despite obvious challenges and would stop at nothing to get the job done.

He maintained that the PSP operators work closely with LAWMA to discharge their statutory duties of evacuating waste generated by tenements in the State, appealing to residents to ensure prompt payment of their waste bills.