Managing Urban Wastes Profitably
By Akinpelu Dada
The waste dump is not the most likely place to find a smartly dressed corporate-looking lady. This is so because of the mountain of garbage, the very offensive odour oozing out and the occasional smoke bellowing from the belly of crust of the earth.
You are likely to see custodians of the dump and young men accompany trucks to discharge the contents of their vehicles.
Add to that the irritable scavengers, who eek out a living on a daily basis from the waste dump, and the different animals and birds that see it as the best avenue to get food on a platter of gold.
But when you see a smartly dressed lady not only directing affairs on a landfill site, but climbs onto a heavy duty equipment to drive it and move level heaps of garbage, then you are sure to marvel.
This was the case of Mrs. Kemi Oni, a lawyer and environmental consultant, who mounted the giant Tana full-width twin compaction drums equipment at the Olusosun dumpsite in Ojota, Lagos recently to demonstrate the efficacy of the equipment in the management of landfill sites to the top hierarchy of the state government.
Governor Babatunde Fashola could not help but marvel at the boldness of the woman and the ease with which she handled the equipment as well as the efficiency of the operation that he immediately ordered for two more of the equipment for use at landfill sites across the state.
In the past, Lagos had assumed a notoriety of being one of the dirtiest places on planet earth with mountains of refuse littering everywhere and constituting an eyesore with the attendant health hazards.
Oni says her investing in waste management is not a misplaced priority contrary to insinuations in some quarters.
According to her, waste managers in other countries are one of the richest people, noting that the experience in Nigeria is not the same but she is optimistic that the country will get there.
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