US embassy cable - 05LAGOS478

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 LAGOS 000478 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O.  12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV, ECON, NI, AID 
SUBJECT: LAGOS PILOTS NEW WASTE MGT SCHEME WITH SOME 
SUCCESS 
 
1.  Summary: The Lagos State Ministry of Environment 
has begun a new waste management program in 24 of 57 
local government areas.  Under the program, 17 waste 
management companies provide trash collection services. 
A separate company handles customer billing, and the 
ministry provides oversight and enforcement.  Though 
not glitch free, the program appears more successful 
than previous schemes: trash is collected, most 
customers are paying their bills, and the areas served 
are noticeably cleaner.  The ministry continues to 
refine the program but has no concrete plans, yet, to 
expand the scheme to the whole state.  The pilot 
program, however, shows the ministry has a reasonable 
understanding of some of the steps needed to ameliorate 
the trash problem in Lagos, though funding and capacity 
building remain critical needs.  End summary. 
 
2.  At the start of Governor Tinubu's second term, the 
Lagos State Ministry of Environment vowed to review and 
revamp the waste management program.  To that end, the 
ministry has begun a pilot program in 24 of the state's 
57 local government areas (LGAs).  The ministry has 
contracted 17 waste management companies and a billing 
company to execute the program, with ministry oversight 
and enforcement. 
 
3.  Trash is a ubiquitous problem here.  It lines the 
streets, clogs the sewage ditches and waterways, and 
smolders on piles throughout the city.  Until 1998, the 
Lagos State Waste Management Authority and the Local 
Government Councils were directly responsible for waste 
collection and disposal.  The old system could not 
accommodate the population explosion in Lagos, however. 
Trash piled up and indiscriminate dumping occurred 
where there were waste disposal attempts.  To rectify 
the situation, the Ministry of Environment began to 
involve private service providers (PSPs).  The more 
than 600 registered providers were responsible for 
collecting both trash and fees.  The ministry also 
tried to integrate individual wheelbarrow operators and 
"cart-pushers" into the collection arrangement, 
especially in densely populated areas.  According to 
the ministry, this system showed "unimpressive 
achievement" due partly to lack of appropriate 
facilities, non-payment by residents, and inadequate 
enforcement.  Because of the failure of this plan, the 
state has introduced the new pilot scheme. 
 
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CUSTOMERS RECEIVE REGULAR SERVICE FOR MONTHLY 
FEES; THE STATE PAYS PSPs UPON DELIVERY 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
4.  Under the pilot program, the billing company 
assesses residential and commercial properties in the 
pilot LGAs and assigns monthly fees according to the 
rates set by the ministry.  Monthly rates range from 
N50 ($0.38) per room for homes to flat rates of N1000 
($7.50) for schools and religious buildings and N25,000 
($188) for restaurants.  The fees can be paid at any of 
26 designated banks.  Frequency of service also varies: 
one pick-up per week for homes and daily collection for 
restaurants and markets.  The ministry pays the PSPs 
based on the amount of trash brought to designated dump 
sites; this pay-by-weight system discourages the 
otherwise common practice of indiscriminate dumping by 
collectors. 
 
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RESIDENTS APPRECIATE SERVICE AND NOTICEABLE RESULTS 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
5.  The ministry's director of environmental services, 
Dr.  Titi Anibaba, told econoff and econspecialist that 
most people have been paying their monthly bills, 
confirming the ministry's long-held assumption that 
people are willing to foot the bill when reliable 
service is provided.  In some of the pilot LGAs the new 
scheme has begun to produce noticeable results, with 
noticeably less trash on the streets or piled beside 
buildings.  Residents of the areas also appreciate not 
having to employ push-cart operators to haul away their 
trash.  The push-cart approach yielded unreliable, 
inadequate service, added to traffic congestion, and 
left residents wondering whether their trash was just 
being dumped down the street. 
 
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A GOOD START, BUT MUCH REMAINS TO BE DONE 
----------------------------------------- 
 
6.  Though encouraged by the results of the pilot 
scheme, Anibaba realizes the ministry is far from 
solving Lagos' trash problem.  Even the pilot program 
needs refining: the ministry receives up to a hundred 
calls a day from residents reporting that their trash 
was not collected or their bill was miscalculated.  A 
contact in Lagos told econoff the service they receive 
under the new scheme is so poor that they continue to 
employ their previous collector, in hopes that between 
the two services, their trash will be collected on a 
regular basis.  The ministry has asked the public to be 
patient as they work through the "teething pains," and 
they have made some adjustments to the scheme.  For 
example, a ward structure was instituted when it became 
clear that a single PSP could not service an entire 
LGA. 
 
7.  Anibaba said the program's biggest area of need is 
better training and more funding for monitoring and 
enforcement.  The ministry created a Monitoring, 
Enforcement and Compliance Department (MECD) to ensure 
service delivery by PSPs and prompt payment by 
customers.  The task has been an uphill struggle.  In a 
recent enforcement action, the MECD closed a prominent 
restaurant for several hours for not paying its bill. 
Officials hope this example will demonstrate their 
resolve and encourage compliance by other corporate 
customers.  Some MECD efforts at enforcement among 
private citizens, however, have prompted allegations of 
officers' collusion with the police in unlawful arrests 
and extortions. 
 
8.  Expanding the pilot program to all of Lagos would 
more than double its scope, requiring a commensurate 
increase in capacity and funding.  Beyond improving 
this trash collection component of the waste management 
system, the ministry also wants to upgrade its 3 dump 
sites into sanitary landfills and rehabilitate its 2 
transfer loading stations.  Officials estimate the 
state needs an additional 3 landfills and 2 transfer 
stations.  Anibaba said the ministry also is working on 
a program to recycle the plastic bags in which drinking 
water is commonly sold.  Soem estimates measure plastic 
bags as 30 percent of the trash generated in Lagos. 
According to Anibaba, all efforts are hampered by 
inadequate funding.  Ministry staff continue to seek 
funding, equipment, and technical assistance from 
outside sources. 
 
--------------------------------- 
NGO Groups Try to Bridge The Gaps 
--------------------------------- 
 
9.  Meanwhile, some local NGO groups are trying to 
bridge the gaps in service by encouraging citizens to 
dispose of refuse properly and "keep their own 
backyards clean." The Center for Values and Leadership 
(CVL), led by one of Lagos' most civic-minded public 
intellectuals, Professor Pat Utomi, organizes monthly 
clean-up campaigns in impoverished areas.  Pol-chief 
participated in one such session over the weekend. 
Residents joined business leaders and others in a day 
of cleaning up the neighborhood.  After four hours, 
dozens of trash bags were full, but the area remained 
so dirty, it was hard to tell a clean-up had occurred. 
Also, residents asked for payment for their services 
after the clean-up.  CVL volunteers explained that 
keeping the environment clean was our collective 
responsibility.  Some accepted this rationale, while 
others vowed not to participate in future such efforts. 
CVL hired trucks to remove the trash following the 
clean-up intervention.  However, they had not arrived 
but the time most participants departed.  A volunteer 
stayed in the community to ensure that the residents 
were not left with bagged trash instead of dispersed 
refuse. 
 
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COMMENT 
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10.  Previous meetings with Anibaba and other ministry 
staff and consultants have left us sure of their desire 
to improve waste management in Lagos but doubtful of 
their capacity to do so in a meaningful way, due to 
inadequate funding.  However, success in implementing 
the pilot scheme and achieving some noticeable results 
shows the ministry is moving in the right direction. 
Efforts to refine the pilot program further show 
commitment and responsiveness.  Ultimately, though, the 
ministry will need a lot more funding and Lagosians 
will need further education on the responsibility they 
owe to themselves to make their own backyards cleaner. 
 
BROWNE