AMBODE NOT REVERSING FASHOLA'S POLICIES, says Bamigbetan

...speaks on VisionScape Challenges

Agege Pulse Magazine

The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan, has said that it is wrong for some people to say that the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is out to reverse the policies of his predecessors.

Bamigbetan said instead of doing that, Ambode was building on the policies of the past governors in the state, including the immediate former governor, Babatunde Fashola’s policies.

The commissioner said this on Tuesday, when he led a team from the state’s Ministry of Information and Strategy on a courtesy visit to The PUNCH Place, the headquarters of the Punch Nigeria Limited, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Bamigbetan was asked if Ambode was trying to reverse the legacies of Fashola by the recent changes in the state’s environmental and sanitation system, to which he replied, no.

He said, “We have not been undoing the policies of the predecessors. Rather, what we have been doing is to build on them and see how we can make them more efficient, effective and people-oriented than before and the refuse and ‘okada’ (commercial motorcyclists’) cases are just part of it.”

Earlier, Bamigbetan had admitted that there had been challenges recently in the collection and disposal of waste in the state, which had made Lagos dirtier with heaps of waste dotting the streets.

The commissioner said the problem was caused because the Private Sector Participation operators, also known as the Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria, who were initially in charge of domestic waste collection had been moved to the commercial sector while Visionscape, the company that should take over from them had challenges getting its equipment into the country.

He said, “It is a fact that we do not build compactors in this country. It is a fact that our manufacturing sector is so weak that you cannot even have them produce bins, so they have to be sourced from abroad and for you to bring them in; they must go through the Customs’ process. So, a company that had been given the mandate to take over from January 1, was still battling with Customs processing.

“What will normally take one month to do in other countries, including Togo, takes five months here. It took them (Visionscape) five months to get the first batch of compactors in. They had a target of 600 compactors but as of now, they have fewer than 200 compactors.

PUNCH