Oyo State Government says it engaged the service of a consultant in the management of waste to enhance maintenance of clean, healthy environment and make the state habitable.
Mr Abiodun Oni, the state Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, made this known on Wednesday at a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the state government in partnership with Mottainai Recycling Ltd.
The meeting held with traders and artisans was aimed at proffering collective solutions to waste management problems.
According to Oni, the present administration in Oyo State is harnessing opportunities in public and private waste management to drive sustainable city and urban circular economy.
He said that the state government meant to make life bearable for residents with the involvement of a consultant -Mottainai Recycling Ltd.
“We have had challenges of cleaning the city and in our determination to keep our cities clean made us to engage the stakeholders as well.
“This new initiative will make our environment clean, while we also target a waste to wealth initiative,” he said.
The commissioner, explaining that traders would pay a little token to get their waste cleared with the new initiative, urged the traders to cooperate with the consultant for the purpose of engaging the company to be materialised.
He further explained that the initiative was launched, thereby, resulting in overhauling of the state’s solid waste management system.
“We must be able to challenge the people and communities who produced majority of the waste to exercise greater responsibility in the disposal of their waste, while also exploring funding strategies to address the issues,” Oni said.
The commissioner implored every trader and artisan operating in the state to embrace the “new waste management of zero waste, zero budget initiative”.
In his remarks, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr Wasiu Olatunbosun, said that government alone could not make the state clean without involving all the stakeholders.
Olatunbosun appealed to all major stakeholders and residents to support the state government in its efforts to make the state clean.