By Wale Adeyanju
The Lagos State Government on Friday took another gigantic to managing the vast deposit of electronic waste in the state with the signing of a Letter of Intent with a company from the Netherlands for the establishment of a smelter plant in Lagos.
Speaking during the signing ceremony at Alausa, Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, who signed on behalf of the State said it is about improving the economy of Lagos.
He added that when the smelter plant comes on stream, it would create new jobs and also create a new economy through conversion of e-waste into valuable products.
Wahab stated that the presence of the Consul General of the Netherlands affirms a vote of confidence on the company “Close the Loop BV” about its capabilities.
He described Electronic waste as a major waste that people usually don’t talk about but with the latest step taken by Lagos, it is far ahead of some states and countries in the Sub region in terms of taking care of electronic waste and converting them to wealth.
He explained that many people do not have the proper awareness on how to dispose either the electronic products or the waste from e-products so the risk pollution becomes more manifest.
He added that the improper management of e-waste can affect the environment badly saying in most cases the e-waste ended up on the landfills, incinerated and eventually exported to the developing countries for recycling.
“Before now, what usually happens to our electronic waste? Government put them together, ship them out, reconvert them to value, bring them in to sell to the people again” he said.
He stated that Lagos generates 13 thousand tons of waste daily, one third goes to waste to wealth, another one third to electronic waste and last part goes to energy.
According to him, residents must take ownership of the infrastructure in their enviroment. “Don’t dispose waste into the drainage system. You are the ones paying the tax, so the government provide infrastructure from the taxes you pay. As a good citizens you must always say something when the arises”.
The Special Adviser on Environment, Mr. Rotimi Akodu while speaking said the Lagos team is ready to collaborate and see that things are sorted the way it should be adding that “Close the Loop BV” officials seemed poised for the job at hand.
“We have a lot of waste in place that we don’t know what to do with them, but now is the time. We just worked on the conversion of waste to wealth. We just signed the conversion of waste to energy and now we are taking care of our electronic waste. Am sure that no state imagined that it is possible. It is something we welcome and ready to partner you” he said.
Netherlands Consul General in Nigeria Mr. Michel Deleen noted that it has been observed that Lagos Government is very pro – active in all its endeavours citing the example of the heavy rainfall experienced few days ago and the flash flood that accompanied it disappeared after a few hours of the rains stopping
“The truth is most Developed countries with infrastructure in place still experience flash flood when it rains incessantly “he said
He emphasized that the Netherlands government is set to collaborate with Lagos to turn waste into value and extract valuable wastes as well adding that this is the begining of that stage and signing of the LOI is very impotant because it is a global issue.
Also speaking, the President Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers, Ingrid Thijssen expressed delight at the partnership, saying it will benefit both parties tremendously.
