The Niger Government says it will implement its newly introduced N1, 000 waste collection fee from November.
Mrs Lucky Barau, General Manager, Niger State Environmental Protection Agency (NISEPA), said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna on Wednesday that the fee would be monthly.
“We will enforce the N1, 000 waste charges this November, we have printed hand bills that will be distributed in major cities for people to comply with payment,” She added.
Barau said that the agency for the meantime would start the collection manually before the electronic process was completed.
According to her, not every household will be charge N1, 000 adding that some will pay lesser amount.
Barau added that since the creation of the agency in 1996 and its take off in 2007, the state government had offered free waste service to the people.
She said that the law setting up the agency empowered it to collect certain amount of money as fee for waste disposal.
She said that the state government had expended so much on waste services and this was no longer sustainable.
“Free waste service is never done in any society; if it must be sustained, people must appreciate what government is doing and complement its effort.’
Barau noted that there were opportunities in waste disposal, waste management, waste sorting and waste recycling, if well utilised by the people.
“There is a very large market for waste management and waste recycles materials,” she said.
Barau said that the agency was collaborating with the state Board of Internal Revenue to close all leakages and ensure money collected did not go into individual pockets.
She added that the BIR would assist the agency with electronic machines to track defaulters. (NAN)
