Lagos Assembly orders immediate return of PSP, disowns Visionscape

The Lagos State House of Assembly has ordered the 20 Local
Governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the
state to call on the Private Sector Partnership (PSP) operators in
their areas to go back to refuse packing job with immediate
effect.

Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, who gave this
directive on Thursday on behalf of the lawmakers during plenary
also ordered the Clerk of the House, Mr. Azeez Sanni to invite the
Commissioner for Environment, Hon. Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti to
appear before the House on the matter next week.

This followed an Urgent Matter of Public Importance raised by
Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu (Eti-Osa Constituency 1) on heaps of refuse
scattered all over the state.

Speaker Mudasiru Obasa emphasised that the Lagos State
Government does not know about Visionscape.

Obasa stated that there are three arms of government including
legislative, executive and judiciary and that the state government
ought to have consulted the House on Visionscape before they
started operation.

“We insist that we don’t know anything about Visionscape because
we were not consulted before they started work.

“We once wrote the Commissioner for Finance, Hon. Akinyemi
Ashade not to pay Visionscape again and he would return any money
he paid to them after our instruction to the coffers of the state
government. We will go to that when the time comes but we have to
do the needful now.

“We are calling on the 20 local governments and 37 LCDAs in the
state to have meetings with the PSP operators to go back to work
and they should start paying them and make the residents to start
paying the operators. We have to avoid epidemics and be proactive,”
he said.

The Speaker also warned those stopping people from dumping
refuse at the dumpsites to desist from doing so, adding that he saw
a lot of refuse trucks in a bad state and that some of them have
been abandoned.

He insisted that the House ought to have approved the new refuse
disposal policy of the state governnent before Visionscape started
work.

“We are inviting the Commissioner for the Environment to come
and report to us within one week. The Clerk should write all the
local councils in the state to do the needful and the Commissioner
for the Environment should work on this and report to us in a
week,” he said.

Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu had said that there were several heaps of
refuse on Lagos roads, adding that they were not like before
“because some PSP are now working and the state government has
bought some trucks.”

He said: “Some refuse are taken to Epe and Ikorodu but it is a
bit far now as 300 instead of 800 trucks now dispose refuse.

“We used to dump the refuse in Olusosun, but the place was
gutted by fire. We can give the place to private companies.

“The sanitary land fill in Epe is not being utilised and the
transfer loading stations too are not working effectively and the
turn around time of packing the refuse is not being utilised.

“It is not all the PSP operators that are working.May be we can
recall the PSP Operators and reopen Olusosun and the land fill
sites should be operated properly.”

The Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade from
Ikorodu Constituency 1 revealed that heaps of refuse are worse in
his area, and that for the state to have good sanitation, a law on
environmental sanitation was passed in Lagos State, but that it
seemed it was not properly done after that.

“The refuse on the road and on the streets are hazardous to the
people. Flies from the refuse mix with the food people are
eating.

“One day, Olusosun would not be able to accommodate refuse any
longer. It would be better if we can change our policy on refuse
disposal.

“I will suggest that we should challenge those in the Ministry
of Health and those in the Ministry of the Environment.

“We can invite the people in the Ministry of the Environment to
know their challenges. This has become an eyesore in Lagos State.
We should invite the people in charge,” he said.

Also speaking, Hon. Bisi Yusuff from Alimosho Constituency 1
revealed that eight people died in Igando, where they dump refuse
in his area.

Yusuff stressed that Visionscape does not know the job, and that
they did not even allow PSP operators to help the people.

“There are big rats on the roads now and they could even make a
vehicle to stumble.

“We should look at it critically. They are not picking any
refuse in the state. It is an important matter that should be
handled urgently,” he said.

In his comment, Hon. Abiodun Tobun from Epe Constitueny 1 stated
that Lagos State is dirty and that only God would help the
state.

He stated that Epe is not benefitting from the system and that
their water has been contaminated and that all their roads are now
bad.

“There is no industrial estate in Epe, but they have in other
places. “They cannot bring refuse dump to Epe, they can relocate it
if that is what we are benefiting. We want better things in Epe
such as industries and other things,” he said.

Hon. Noheem Adams from Eti Osa Constituency 1 said that there
are refuse in many places in his area.

He stated that in the days of PSP, people knew when they would
pack their refuse outside. We should invite both the commissioner
and LAWMA officials as well as the local government. We should be
able to do our best because we need the people’s vote now.

This was corroborated by other lawmakers such as Hon. Oluyinka
Ogundimu from Agege Constituency 2, Hon. Saka Solaja (Ikorodu
Constituency 2), the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni
(Lagos Island 1), the Chief Whip, Hon. Rotimi Abiru (Shomolu 1) and
Hon. Abdulsobur Olayiwola (Mushin Constituency 2).

Buhari to Invest More on Health, Education in
2019

The Honourable Minister of Health Professor Isaac Adewole has
assured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration
would invest more money on health and education in 2019.

The Minister gave this assurance during a peer review meeting
with Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) and Medical Director (MDs)
across Nigeria.

The meeting, which took place at Federal Medical Center,
Ebute-Meta, was to enable them exchange ideas, share experiences
and appreciate challenges confronting each facility in other to
help the government address such and if necessary capture them in
the 2019 budget. The review was also to give a direct response to
some of the demand by Nigerians on what the present administration
was doing on health related issues and encourage them to make use
of health facilities provided by the government.

The Health Minster said, government would not only invest money
on health but also on education. “We need healthy people to drive
the economy as we also need educated people to drive the economy so
we would not neglect our human resources, so I assure you that for
2019, this government would put more money on health and education
and we would make our people proud”. He added.

Earlier, the Medical Director, Federal Medical Center Ebute-Meta
and the host, Dr. Adedamola Dada, while briefing the Honourable
Minister on the state of the hospital said the hospital had
embarked on renovation of some of the existing infrastructure like
wards, public toilets as well as the oxygen beds and the have been
upgraded to meet global standard. He however appealed to the
Minister to assist the facility in persuading the Nigerian Railway
Corporation to release more land space to the hospital for the
required expansion.

Dr. Dada also informed the minister that since the hospital has
automated its IGR collection, it has witnessed continuous monthly
increase in IGR and has substantially reduced the leakages. The
hospital had also helped improved the capacity of staff through
relevant training programme.

Some participants at the peer review meeting include, Dr. JAF
Momah, Chief Medical Director, National Hospital Abuja; Dr. Joe
Amedu, Director Hospital Services, Federal Ministry of Health
Abuja; Dr. Emeka Onwey, Medical Director, Federal Teaching Hospital
Abakaliki; Dr. Yemi Ogun, Medical Director, Federal Neuro
Psychiatric Hospital Yaba amongst others.