Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged Ogun government to partner stakeholders in the waste management sector to enable the state to achieve a cleaner environment.
Obasanjo stated this when the Ogun State Waste Management Authority (OGWAMA) team visited him at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), on Thursday in Abeokuta.
He commended Gov. Dapo Abiodun for establishing the agency for proper sanitation, saying that this was a demonstration of his determination to ensure a cleaner environment in the state.
“I am advising the governor and his administration to partner with the various stakeholders in the waste management sector.
“This will help the state to reap its efforts at making the environment clean, which is the main reason for establishing the agency,” Obasanjo said.
The former president particularly called for partnership in the area of waste recycling, saying that this would assist the agency in generating energy for domestic and industrial use.
According to him, the end-product of the waste recycling can also serve as manure for agricultural purposes, adding that the library is ready to partner the agency in that area.
“The energy generated can be used for the benefit of the immediate communities, where the recycling plants are sited.
“This will reduce over-reliance on public utilities, thus moving the nation towards industrial growth and sustainable development,” Obasanjo said.
In his response, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Environment, Mr Ola Oresanya, said OGWAMA was established as an enabler of job creation, stressing that more than 30,000 direct and indirect jobs had been created by the agency.
He said that the state government was determined to make the state the cleanest in Nigeria.
Oresanya, who is also Chief Executive Officer of OGWAMA, thanked the former president for extending hands of fellowship to the agency.
Newsmen report that the highpoint of the visit was the decoration of Obasanjo as the Grand Patron of OGWAMA.
