Coalition seeks more slots for local waste contractors

Comrade Kunle Fajembola. CHRO chair.

                       A group, Coalition of Human Rights Organizations in Oyo state has asked the state government to consider and give more slots to the state based waste management contractors to ensure justice and fairness in the selection of contractors.

The coalition made this known through a petition letter titled RE:BIDDING FOR THE CLEAN STREET INITIATIVE OF THE OYO STATE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY – REQUEST FOR A JUSTICE AND EQUITY addressed to the  state Governor Senator Abiola Ajimobi singed by its chairman Comrade Kunle Fajembola dated July 17^th 2012 and made available to our correspondent in Ibadan the state capital.

The state based contractors according to the statement are those who worked for the party’s success in the last elections and are familiar with the terrain of the state.

The body accused the state Ministry of Environment and Habitats and the state chairman of Waste Management Authority Eng. Adebisi Adesina for allegedly brought “foreign contractors” from Lagos at the detriment of the state based ones who “worked tirelessly and seriously” to ensure that the party emerged at the last elections.

The letter reads: “we received protests letters from various contractors who bided for the Clean Street Initiative by the Oyo State Waste Management Authority. The content of the letters was that there was injustice in the criteria the management used to select the contractors”.

“Also, the protesters complained that most of the contractors out of the selected 12 came from Lagos state, while the people / contractors that worked seriously and tirelessly for the party to emerge in the state were denied their rights to democratic dividends. Why should it be, is it because the chairman of the Oyo State Waste Management Authority was imported from Lagos state to become the Chairman” the statement queried.

 

 The group lamented that the 12 contractors selected out of about 40 that bided for the contract were not enough to service the 12 service areas with about 60 routes just as it urged the two parties concerned; Ministry of Environment and Habitats and the Waste Management Authority chair to address the issue with equity to increase the number from 12 and consider more local contractors to give them chances to serve their people and also enjoy dividends of democracy.

          But when our correspondent sent a text message to the general manager of the waste authority Eng. Joseph Alabi to comment on the allegation he did not reply our correspondent. Both the chairman and the general manager are yet to respond to the messages sent to them by our correspondent as at the time of filling in this report.