WS: Is the Government aware of the prospects of and how much we can as a country benefit from waste management?
Prof : I’m sure they are not that blind. They know what is happening but I have a feeling that they don’t care. Unfortunately, what they are aiming at is what they can gain immediately without wasting time as individuals but not as an Institution. While we continue to encourage this (recycling) venture, the (what’s-in-for-me) mindset has to be done away with.
.
WS: As Nigerians, we understand the problems with the bureaucracy in our polity. In response to that and other avenues for public wastages, one of the models
wastesmart.org is advocating is removing or greatly minimising government’s involvement in projects of this sort. Would that be ideal? Is it a workable model?
... The UN Habitat also said that if any State could volunteer to start a project, they would give counterpart funding. Sustainable Ibadan Project played a very prominent role in this programme in bringing all stakeholders. Nobody came forward after the training programme. All of them were there in the training programme and they appreciated it but at the end of the day, nothing...
.
And then, we went to Ondo State when the Late Segun Agagu was the Governor. In Ondo State, there was a problem there again, we provided the knowledge. What we proposed was not a gigantic project but a very small scale one but the Governor committed it into the hands of some people and they said “No, we want a very big one for the entire waste we want to manage”. We gave a N30 million quotation but they spent several times more than that, but they spent several times more than that (N200 million). Several Project Managers came in and left but the challenges were not addressed by any of them.
.
Read more here:
http://www.wastesmart.org/2017/04/indian-professor-dissects-problems-bedeviling-waste-management-in-nigeria-part-ii/