The Lagos State Government has signed a Letter of Intent with a Netherlands company for the establishment of a smelter plant in Nigeria.

This is another initiative by the state government to manage the vast deposit of electronic waste in the state.

Speaking during the signing programme at Alausa, Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, who signed on behalf of the state said it has to do with the improving the economy of Lagos.

According to him, when the smelter plant comes onstream, it would create new jobs and also create a new economy through the conversion of e-waste into valuable products.

Wahab stated that the presence of the Consul General of the Netherlands affirmed a vote of confidence in the company “Close the Loop BV” about its capabilities.

He described electronic waste as a major waste that people usually don’t talk about but with the latest step taken by Lagos, it has gone far ahead of some states and countries in the sub-region in terms of taking care of electronic waste and converting them to wealth.

He explained that many people did not have the proper awareness of how to dispose of either electronic products or the waste from e-products so the risk of pollution becomes more manifest.

He added that the improper management of e-waste can affect the environment badly saying in most cases the e-waste ends up in landfills, incinerated and eventually exported to developing countries for recycling.

“Before now, what usually happens to our electronic waste? The government put them together, ship them out, reconvert them to value, bring them in to sell to the people again,” he said.

He stated that Lagos generated 13,000 tons of waste daily, adding one-third would go to waste to wealth, another one-third to electronic waste and the last part to energy.

He urged residents must take ownership of the infrastructure in their environment. “Don’t dispose of waste into the drainage system. You are the ones paying the tax, so the government provide infrastructure from the taxes you pay. As a good citizen, you must always say something when the arises.”

The Special Adviser on Environment, Mr. Rotimi Akodu, while speaking said the Lagos team is ready to collaborate and see that things are sorted the way it should be adding that “Close the Loop BV” officials seemed poised for the job at hand.

“We have a lot of waste in place that we don’t know what to do with them, but now is the time. We just worked on the conversion of waste to wealth. We just signed the conversion of waste to energy and now we are taking care of our electronic waste. Am sure that no state imagined that it is possible. It is something we welcome and ready to partner with you,” he said.

Netherlands Consul General in Nigeria Mr. Michel Deleen noted that it has been observed that the Lagos Government is very proactive in all its endeavours, citing the example of the heavy rainfall experienced a few days ago and the flash flood that accompanied it disappeared after a few hours of the rains stopping

“The truth is most developed countries with infrastructure in place still experience flash floods when it rains incessantly “he said

He emphasized that the Netherlands government is set to collaborate with Lagos to turn waste into value and extract valuable wastes as well adding that this is the beginning of that stage and signing of the LOI is very important because it is a global issue.

Also speaking, the President Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers, Ingrid Thijssen expressed delight at the partnership, saying it will benefit both parties tremendously.