₦airaland Forum

Fashola Commissions Solid Waste Material
Recovery Facility In Alimosho, Advocates
Corporate Social Responsibility
• Says corporate social responsibility, expressed
through making other people happy, gives
business image and prosperity
• Solicits greater support for incoming
administration of Akinwunmi Ambode
May 12, 2015 - Lagos State Governor, Mr.
Babatunde Fashola SAN, Tuesday commissioned a
solid waste material recovery facility in Alimosho
with a call on corporate organizations in the State
to engage in Corporate Social Responsibilities in
their areas of operation as a means to create
image for their business and to prosper.
Addressing an audience consisting members of
the Organized Private Sector, top Government
functionaries, members of the Alimosho and
Igando communities, PSP operators and factory
workers at the factory site, Governor Fashola
argued that whether or not a business would
eventually become a successful would be defined
by the people who work there and how happy
they are made to be by the employers.
The Governor, who was making reference to
children of Compassionate Orphanage who had
performed a choreography as part of the
commissioning programme, cited the West African
Energy Limited, facilitators of the factory, who
have adopted the Orphanage as their Corporate
Social Responsibility to the Alimosho community
pointing out that it forms the heart and soul of
any business.
"I think it is a lesson for all our business men and
women out there who are endowed, not that it is
their business to support other people, but a
business must have a heart and it is the heart
and the soul, expressed through young children
and people who are happy that gives a business
real image and prosperity", he said.
Governor Fashola, who thanked the company for
bringing joy to the orphans, noted with gratitude
that apart from their investment and the business
and all that it would bring in terms of
employment, the company chose as part of the
corporate social responsibility to support the
orphanage adding that from the look on the faces
of the children, it was obvious that the company
has contributed to make them happy.
Giving a little background of the factory, Governor
Fashola said the idea came to him through an
email he saw on his phone which suggested that
an investor wished to establish such a company
in the State adding that he directed that the
investor be invited to discuss the idea.
According to the Governor, although his first
concern was whether it would create jobs, the
idea turned out to include environmental concerns
and the building of access road network which
then required a multi-disciplinary action which
then involved the Ministries of Commerce and
Industry (business), Environment (environment),
and Works (roads), and the State's Waste
management Authority (LAWMA, for solid Waste).
"But the problem then was how to turn his idea
into a project and a project into a factory? You
would see a multi-disciplinary collaboration here
in the work of Government", he said adding, "But
the more we looked at it, the more we saw that
there is also an environment issue so we moved
to the Ministry of Environment and because it
was a solid waste part of the environment, we
involved LAWMA.
Noting that the factory is the first phase of a
material recovery facility, Governor Fashola said
the function was to recover solid waste materials,
recycle them for reuse and conservation adding
that in doing so, Lagos was only joining the rest
of the world by having the recovery facility
"The whole world is recycling, the whole world is
reusing, the whole world is conserving. So nothing
really goes to waste in any significant proportion.
So that is what we are signing on, we are joining
the whole world by having this recovery facility to
recycle our wastes and turn them into wealth",
the Governor said.
He recalled that there was a time Lagos was
rated as one of the dirtiest cities in the world and
expressed joy that the reputation has been
consigned to history while the city has acquired a
new reputation of being one of the cleanest in the
world adding that the new problem now was how
to get more refuse to run the factory .
Noting that the factory will service 130 compactor
trucks a day when it begins operation in a few
months time, Governor Fashola said the
expansion of the factory later in the year would
usher in its next phase where even more refuse
will be needed in order to produce heat for
electricity generation.
"So from a state that could not manage refuse,
we have moved to a state that needs refuse", the
Governor said adding that the Company CEO had
said the factory would start the next phase by
December this year which meant that the people
of Alimosho, Igando Housing Estate, the General
Hospital and the School of Nursing in the environ
would expect "hopefully sometime next year", to
enjoy more regular electricity.
The third phase of the project, the Governor said,
would be composting and the production of
fertilizer to maintain the lawns , parks and
gardens and other green areas across the City
that one industry that the greening industry now
employs over 100,000 people.
"It is an industry that was not there eight years
ago, just like the Association of Waste Managers,
it wasn't there 15 years ago. So we have opened
new frontiers, creating new economies that were
not there before. But is one side of the story, the
next side of the story will be Power, the next side
of the story will be organic fertilizer and
composting", he said adding that the other sides
to the challenge to the environment would be the
development of renewable energy from solar
panels "made in Nigeria not imported from
China".
Thanking the West African Energy Company and
its CEO, Mr. Paul O'Callaghan, for believing in the
state and its economy, Governor Fashola declared,
"For me, as we wind down in the next 16 days,
my promise to you was that I would deliver a
sustainable environment for Lagos, a cleaner
environment, a greener environment and I think
my job is done".
In his good will message, the Managing Director
of First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Mr Ladi
Balogun, said his organization was ready to
partner in any project involving the Lagos State
Governor whom he described as a visionary and
development strategist who has turned Lagos into
a City of reference.
Vice Chairman of the Igando Housing Estate, Dr.
Anthony Chukwuemeka Elemuna, who spoke for
the Community, praised Governor Fashola for his
transformational leadership of the State in the
last eight years saying one of the three dumpsites
that pollute the environment of the place had
been cleared while the operations of the factory
would take the rest of the refuse.
The Onigando of Igando, in his remarks thanked
Governor Fashola for bringing development to the
area pointing out that although the people were
not averse to development, many administrations
had come to promise development without
carrying it out until the present administration.
The CEO of West African Energy Company, Mr.
Paul O'Callaghan, in his remarks said the idea of
the factory was conceived in 2012 adding that
from then till now the idea has been turned into a
factory that has the capacity to take 130 PSP
compactor truck loads of refuse employing over
120 people at the first phase with the prospect to
employ 300 in the later phases.
In his welcome address earlier, Special Adviser on
the Environment, Dr. Taofiq Folami, described the
project as a well thought out one adding that it
was intended to be a catalyst to attract more
investments in the area and also generate more
employment for the teeming unemployed in the
State.
Also present at the occasion were the
Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mrs.
Sola Oworu, Commissioner for Establishment,
Pension and Training, Mrs. Florence Oguntuase,
Commissioner for Local Governmeent and
Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Cornelius Ojelabi,
Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr. Wale Ahmed
and Managing Director of LAWMA, Mr.Ola
Oresanya as well as officials of the West African
Energy Company and chief executives of other
organizations as well as members of the
beneficiary communities.










www.tundefashola.com/archives/news/2015/05/12/20150512N01.html

That is great fashola. Even at last minute u still have a lot to deliver

Fashola, always commissioning projects without making the cost known to the general public.


It is not enough to buy me a pack of indomie, you also need to state the cost of the indomie. Remember, the money isn't yours? Its partly the tax payers money and F.G (via Niger Delta oil) money. So as a governor, appointed by the people (most of whom are highly educated, with several PhD holders in economics & acct), you owe them a breakdown of costs!


Lagosians are not zombies. Lagos state is not a one man business.

Acidosis:
[s]Fashola, always commissioning projects without making the cost known to the general public.


It is not enough to buy me a pack of indomie, you also need to state the cost of the indomie. Remember, the money isn't yours? Its partly the tax payers money and F.G (via Niger Delta oil) money. So as a governor, appointed by the people (most of whom are highly educated, with several PhD holders in economics & acct), you owe them a breakdown of costs!


Lagosians are not zombies. Lagos state is not a one man business.[/s]

beta guvnor