The Biodun Oyebanji-led government in Ekiti State has mapped out strategies to proffer solutions to waste management problems in the State Capital stressing the intention of Government to turn waste to wealth as the plastic top the list of waste in landfills in Ado Ekiti.
The Technical Adviser to the Governor on eGIS and Land Management, Mr Olusanmi Akintobi gave the information at a stakeholders meeting organized by the office of the Geographic Information System to validate Waste Wise Cities Survey results recently conducted in Ado Ekiti
Speaking at the meeting, Akintobi who said the stakeholders meeting was in line with the policy of UN-Habitat said the engagement became necessary to validate the results and proffer solutions to the problems detected through the survey.
Akintobi who raised concern over some of the problems identified by the survey stressed the need for proper monitoring of waste from collection points to disposal levels.
He also lamented the large volume of plastic films discovered at the landfills in Ado Metropolis and the volume of waste which are not collected.
“We are here today to validate the results of the Waste Wise Cities Tool Survey embarked upon recently and arrive at solutions to the problems discovered along the exercise.
One of these problems is that we have much plastic in the landfills and these plastics are money.Another problem is that over 30 percent of our waste do not reach dump sites.Then where are they ? Is either they are in the drains or in the river and this is not good enough’ he lamented.
The Technical Adviser therefore advised people of the state to desist from dumping of waste indiscriminately adding that such attitude would affect us negatively.
Presenting the outcome of the Waste Wise Cities Tool Survey, the Technical Adviser to the Governor on Green Economy and Ecological Matters, Dr Akinyemi Akinyugha who is also Project Coordinator, Nigeria Climate Adaptation -Erosion and Watershed project in Ekiti State (NEW MAP) said the total Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated is 206tones per day with 36 percent collected (73t/d) and zero percent of MSW is collected and managed in controlled facilities.
Dr Akinyugha reported that per capital Municipal Solid Waste generation is 0.40kgper capital per day and per capital household food waste generation is 0.11kgper capital per day while the City’s recovery rate is 1 percent.
He disclosed that plastic leakage into water is estimated at 3718kg/capital/year while 64 percent of waste (133t/d) is not collected due to infrastructure deficiencies, limited service coverage, financial constraints and lack of public awareness.
According to Akinyugha, the survey covered about 90 households, dumpsites and recovery sites across Ado-Ekiti, including high-income areas such as GRA Extension, Egbewa, and Federal Housing Estate.
He said recovery sites sampled included Oke-Bola, Yahusa Scrap Yard, and Alhaji Topsy’s site at Oke-Ori Omi.
Akinyugha noted that the eight-day survey, aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 11, 12, and 14 stressing that the survey also revealed the higher wastage of perishable food items among low- and middle-income earners compared to high-income earners, possibly due to limited access to food preservation facilities like refrigeration.
In his presentation,, the Director General of the Ekiti State waste management Authority (EKSWAMA), Mr Sunkanmi Onipeday who commended the State Governor for his laudable achievements in the waste management sector shared progress on waste collection expansion across the state.
He explained that the coverage had grown from 2 to 6 operational zones, with 12 private sector operators currently engaged adding that the Governor had approved the procurement of additional 40 Dino bins to improve waste collection capacity—half of which will serve Ado-Ekiti, with the remainder being deployed to other high-priority areas.
Packaged by Mayowa Owogbade
