By Obiabin Onukwugha
Waste Pickers Association of Nigeria (WAPAN), has called on governments at all levels to aid their operations through the provision of security. The body stated that their members play a key road in keeping the environment clean.
The call was made by the South/South Coordinator of WAPAN, Comrade Egeonu Obed. He said the members need protection as they go about their operations as they are exposed to attacks by some members of public who misunderstand their operations.
He said though there are some unscrupulous elements among them, the association was doing everything within its powers to checkmate such persons.
Egeonu underscored the importance of pickers to waste management and environmental sustainability, pointing out that their operations aid government efforts in the area of sanitation and environmental protection.
Obed spoke at one-day sensitisation and engagement programme with battery collectors and recyclers organized by the National Environmental Standards and Regulatory Enforcement Agency (NESREA), in collaboration with Alliance for Responsible Battery Recycling (ARBR) at the NESREA South/South zonal office in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, recently,
He said: “There is no association, no organisation when it comes to environmental clean up, when it comes to health, that WAPAN is not involved irrespective of the area of specialisation. Is it on batteries, pickers are involved, is it on metals, the pickers are involved, recyclables, the pickers are involved.
“WAPAN today is an advancing environmental sanity and is empowering waste pickers nationwide because as a formal organisation we are doing everything humanly possible to ensuring that the informal are seen as formal.
“We play a vital role in the society. We also ensure cleaner and greener of every state. We work on the drainages, to the lounges, to everywhere. The pickers are people who make their individual valuables through picking of wastes.
“We are helping the government clean up the streets, drainages, and we also expect support from the government. Because most at times pickers are not valued but those who have come to realise their roles also value them.
“We face a lot of challenges from security agents. Yes, I should know that among us there are some pickers who also get to your backyards, your kitchen, pick your ware, destroy it, scale it. We are making sure that they are all rebranded, change their mindsets.
“One of the support we need from the government is protecting the interest of the pickers because pickers are always there to attend to your needs at all times in as much as you are involved in one business or the other that has to do with environmental cleanup, environmental hazards, etc.”